Power to the People: 7 Ways to Fix the Grid, Now
April 23, 2009
Read the article listed below and post a comment on it. Your comment should be at least two paragraphs and reflect your take on the contents of the articles. Do NOT skim or altogether skip the reading and just post your thoughts. I’ll more than likely be able to tell, and you will NOT get credit.
How can you use tech to improve the environment?
Comments will be open until Tuesday, April 28th at midnight.
Entry Filed under: assignments. .
1.
Damian Thorn-Hauswirth | April 23, 2009 at 5:50 pm
I didn’t really realize how dire the situation was at the present time. As the article stated technology can be used to increase communication among different parts of the power plants/lines. This will increase efficiency so workers won’t have to wait for a long time waiting for a response.
I found it interesting how the power companies have just built extensive power lines for cheaper energy. It really is crazy how far the industry has gone just to maximize profits. It sucks that greed has stopped the possibility for a better power system.
2.
Alanna Honigman | April 23, 2009 at 6:22 pm
I had no idea that all of our power was basically focused on a single grid. That’s kind of…well, throwing all your eggs in one basket kinda thing, isn’t it? I knew that Obama was for the energy crisis but didn’t know that this is what he meant. I’m glad that things are being done to help make the issue all the less dire, even if it’s going to take a long time. The increase in jobs will do wonders, too.
I like how the article gave a quick summary of the history of the topic for us, it really makes the author believable. It’s kind of scary how the grid is seemingly on its last legs and people in the far past haven’t really cared to try and update it to be more efficient. I think I’m going to keep tabs on this story and follow what’s being done about it.
3.
Tatiana Mesa | April 23, 2009 at 6:34 pm
It came to my attention that we are in need to fix this energy crisis when I was sitting at home and saw the commercial with President Obama informing us that we will becoming energy efficient. I feel it has taken so long to even realize that we are behind, europe has already been using technology to better our enviornment.
I just feel that it is something that can fix our future but it will take a long process but it seems so depressing when you read this article states that that “technology alone won’t solve this mess”. Think about it, it’s not only about discovering the right technology to get us their it’s the founding the billions of dollars that comes from the tax-payers. In the long run we will immensely profit from this but we are americans we want it right now, and to some that far-sighted goal seems impossible.
4.
Nick Roe | April 23, 2009 at 7:34 pm
I can honestly believe this country uses to much electricity. I just never knew how much we really used. It said in the article that 40 percent of the energy we use travels through the wires around this country. Now I believe we need a new alternative, because the lines are inefficient, bad for our future, and they can even be knocked down from time to time which also poses a problem. Its also kind of crazy that they say energy emmisions will go up 40 percent in the next two decades.
I’m kind of glad that Obama has decided to do something to change the grid. If things stay the same and we dont come up with another solution for energy, I really don’t know how the future is going to look. I think if you used the computer alot less and use less electricity, you can solve the problem a little yourself.
5.
Jason Gralnick | April 23, 2009 at 8:37 pm
I knew the energy grid was inefficient, but the article seemed to reveal how truly messed up it all is. I would like to say that it put a lot of emphasis on the “national grid,” but wouldn’t it be more effective to have more localized grids? It is definitely a good idea to integrate more technology into the grid, specifically some type of gizmo that monitors the flow of energy, sends it through the most efficient route, and even let’s consumers know how much they are using.
Hopefully, someday we will figure out a way to beam electricity across the nation as light, which will really increase the efficiency. But for now I think we need to invest in smart grid technologies, but break it down into steps rather than trying to tackle it all at once. An easy way to get started is just to use less energy in the first place, and a way to do that would be to increase general knowledge of how to use energy efficiently.
6.
ana mesa | April 23, 2009 at 9:04 pm
I think now we are paying for our own acts because this is happening because we did not care much about it. No maintenance, no care affected the grid in a way that now they have to invest a lot of money. We can not blame edison because he invented it but he did not know the counsequences of not taking care of his invention. However, it is our fault that the grid it is in this conditions.
Now we have to pay for it, and take additional care for our future. I think we can not just blame the government because everyone has to do a little bit to fix this situation. if we do not do it we are going to pay an expensive price in the future.
7.
Andrew Sorokin | April 23, 2009 at 9:21 pm
We do need a new way of understanding and controlling power. Creating a new power grid would allow the country regulate the power more efficiently. However, it seems to be run by the money mongerers. I admire Obama’s attempt to pass a stimulus package in order to help the energy crisis. It’s always a crisis these days. We do use too much power. I try to always turn things off that I don’t use. However, the grid has to be maintained.
These days it looks like it’s barely functional. With companies going for the lowest bidder. Cheap labor costs, high taxes. It only helps big corporate America. This is where the government needs to step in. These energy companies, just like the oil companies have too much power. Something like electricity and oil should be nationalized in my opinion. This way all oil prices, no matter what gas station you go to, will be the same. The same goes for electricity and energy costs. Keep it simple and keep it cheap.
8.
Mark Scott | April 23, 2009 at 9:37 pm
50% efficiency increase eh? Fancy. I don’t see why anyone wouldn’t want to do that.
But there is only so much the power companies can do to reduce energy usage. A great deal of it rests with consumers and manufactures that produce electric consuming goods.
For consumers, most of electrical waste comes down to laziness and simply not knowing, or rather, not having the common sense to do certain things. For instance, many people do not know that leaving certain electronic devices plugged in, even when they are in their off state, draw electricity. Though be it small, the amount of waste quickly adds up when multiple such devices exist in one household, and when multiplied by all the people in the world.
For manufactures, it comes down to doing the cheap and quick way, vs the more involved but more efficient way. That’s a cost thing. I doubt they will ever take the initiative to do otherwise unless they are punished, or rewarded like the article encourages.
But I blame consumers mostly for wasted energy. Even if they are lazy, there are devices that can monitor device usage and either trigger them on or trigger them off completely when they are needed. For instance, some manufactures of computer power strips actually build models with relays that turn other outlets on (that probably have things like printers, scanners, or other accessories plugged into them) when the main device (usually the computer) begins to draw power. This is a super simple device, and can save vast amounts of power when implemented properly. To cheap to buy one? Build one! They are quite simple little devices. Traditional surge protectors can be retrofitted with a few parts.
9.
Matthew Snodgrass | April 23, 2009 at 10:08 pm
It looks like the situation is pretty bad. hopefully, some of the ideas that were mentioned in this article will start to help. I’m really not that knowledgeable about this kind of thing so I not sure what to do myself. I am glad to have read this article and learned more about it.
10.
Jason Lee | April 23, 2009 at 10:44 pm
This is definitely one of the largest issues our country will face over the next decade. There are too many things that rely on the stability of our electric power. With blackouts happening in certain cities for even a day would totally hurt our economy even more. Fossil fuels won’t last forever. The problem isn’t with our technology, because we definitely have the means of more efficient energy sources. The problem is all the companies and corporations that have their hands in the oil pot would be screwed, millions would lose their jobs and everything we have that runs off oil and gas would be obsolete. If something is going to be done soon, the world will have to come together and set up a timeline or plan in order to save our planet and the life living on it.
11.
Fernando Rosas | April 23, 2009 at 11:07 pm
A lot of what this article talked about went right over my head. However, what I did understand was that our current energy grid system is failing and that its fall dates back to Edison. I never knew Edison’s company controlled the “generation and distribution” of energy. It was obvious that they had more resources back then, but I can’t believe the utilities didn’t update the system for many years. It makes sense from a financial perspective: “don’t fix it if it’s not broken.” However, I am slowly losing faith in the companies that we depend on such as energy, money, etc.
I really hope this stimulus package is effective. I don’t know exactly what this money is going towards, but I hope it is properly used to help grow our economy. We need to create more jobs and upgrade our grid so that we can effectively provide energy to our homes and keep our environment clean.
12.
Juan Valera | April 24, 2009 at 10:10 am
Wow. I definitely take electricity for granted. Plug something into the wall, and you expect it to work. I honestly didn’t know the energy problem extended this far, but now that I know it seems so obvious. Why was so much emphasis on “green” energy when we’re not even efficiently using what we’ve already got? At least some companies are taking the initiative to fix up the power grid, if not out of sheer kindness.
Maybe a nationwide revamping of the power grid is exactly what we need. Desperate times call for desperate measures, and the economy is one such time. A huge project like that would create tons of jobs, probably increase general morale, and be energy-efficient too! Now I’m just wondering why it’s taken so long for us to realize all this!
13.
Samantha Ray | April 24, 2009 at 10:22 am
I had never realized that the electricity problem was well, such a problem. Americans do use A LOT of electricity/energy power, and really do take it for granted. If people would be more conscious of what they are doing and using the situation could possibly decrease if even by a little.
I had no idea though that one grid controlled all the conversion from fuel to electrons. It’s pretty hard to imagine that 40% of all the US’s energy is converted there. This was the first I have ever heard anything about this actually. It was pretty enlightening.
It seems that the writer is really frustrated with the whole grid in itself. He even goes as far to call it wasteful and dumb. I guess I’m too new to this idea to agree or not with him, but it does seem that we need a change, especially if they’re expecting a 40% increase in electricity over the next 2 decades. I do agree though that the change and improvement is going to have to happen on a piece by piece basis. It will not be a quick and easy fix, so it needs to begin now.
14.
Dana Orlando | April 24, 2009 at 1:35 pm
I knew that the energy problem was bad, but I had no idea that it was really that bad. To think, that all of our electric power is based on a single grid, and that that one grid has to be able to produce enough energy to satisfy billions of people. It’s no wonder there’s a problem! Like the article stated, when Edison discovered the method for electricty, it was a much simpler time. There wasn’t nearly as many people using it as there are today. Therefore, a simple grid format could be used to moniter and administer the proper amount of electricity.
However, today there are a lot of things that people can do to help conserve energy while the government is working on a more efficient plan overall. Just shutting off the lights when leaving a room, or turning off your computer when you are done using it will help concerve some energy. If everyone followed this practice, the amount of energy that will be saved will add up over time.
15.
Julio Ubilla | April 24, 2009 at 2:38 pm
I think that these companies should all be merged into one big nation-wide power company and have sub-divisions to manage all the regional areas and have a central office in DC. If that doesn’t work then the government should interfere and set up its own comimttee to look into new ways to fix the power grid.
Some of the ways that they could do this is by taking advantage of all these new alternative energy sources like wind, solar, hydroelectricity, geothermal, etc. instead of using so much fossil fuels. Also they could spend a little more in R&D and see if they can come up with the next great invovative way to fix the power grid and create some good ol’ fashioned competition with a cause.
Anyway that’s this guy’s opinion. Later.
16.
Dave "bandelero" Pokk | April 24, 2009 at 4:48 pm
I found it quite shocking that our nation was energized solely from one power grid. I am also quite surprised to learn about the amount of output it takes from coal factories to keep this grid running and to keep the power flowing into our homes. It is also quite amazing to find out about the amount of money our government spends on ” technical difficulties” the grid experiences due to something as simple as an obstructive tree line.
I was laughing a bit when the next paragraph was titled Go ahead:Blame Edison. Now this is a new piece of knowledge. It seems like when somebody stumbles upon a certain highly effective invention that there first response is to exploit it for monetary purposes without thinking about the long term effects of doing so. I hope that with the high numbers of gigawatts they give for our country’s future consumption possibility, that it can be met easily with new technologies and public awareness to ensure we’re not left in the dark.
17.
Kristin Benjamin | April 24, 2009 at 7:24 pm
I had know idea that the grid was even an issue until I read the article. Clearly, is is in dire need of an upgrade. There have been several monumental outages the last couple of decades that has cost plenty of money. There is no way that the current grid could handle the population if it doubles in two decades, like the article suggests.
I believe the investment in the energy field is ultimately necessary. For now it may serve as just a outlet for individduals to be provided with jobs. But it is very important in the long run. Yes, it is going to cost a lot of money, but keeping the current grid set up would probably prove to be more expensive when it caused damage. This seems like an issue that should have been addressed a long time ago, but just kept getting pushed back because people would not have agreed. Well, I think the people will comply is if their option deals with yes or no to electricity for the future.
18.
Jade Rahim | April 24, 2009 at 7:56 pm
To me, it seems that everything lately has been revealed as some way to maximize profits without caring about the later consequences. It’s seems like there’s some premise that everyone forgets: later does actually happen. I guess at the time, it just seems like a good idea, like a lot of things, so I’m not sure that I can blame these people for being… tragically human. However, I do think that this is a situation that might get worse before it gets better unless there is more awareness. I personally had no idea of the grid, and the ways in which we affect the grid. Moreover, the ways that we are affected because of the way the grid’s energy is being handled. Companies’ main goal for the most part is to reap benefits–not to be biased or anything, and I don’t think that the need for energy is going to lessen any.
As for technology that can accommodate for our energy needs, I think it’s possible just as long as people are made aware of the state of the economy and the needs for the future. I think that there would need to be a significant shift of power to handle this situation as well, and I think it’s good that Obama is willing to invest money in trying to correct the problem. However, I think that sometimes the problem moves a lot faster than the solution, and that technology is always being improved on so the grid is going to need a lot of collaboration. And definitely some people involved that regulate what’s going on, seeing as there is a lack of leaders in some respects. I figure to fix the grid, the concept must be pitched in a way that will appeal to interests of a lot of parties at once, which can obviously be tricky.
19.
Fredelyne alcide | April 24, 2009 at 8:09 pm
One way that I would use technology to improve the environment is to create pop-ups on various tips to reduce energy consumption. With the pop-ups, it would have attractive design and font so it could catch people’s attention. Even though people would get annoyed with it and click out from it, it would bring on more awareness.
Since technology is one of the ways that people obtain information, it makes sense to spread the grid crisis on the internet in various ways. Another technique that I will use is to ask Microsoft to create default wallpaper on going green. In the wall paper, it would have statistics, facts and the consequences of not changing old energy consumption habits.
20.
Steven Stratis | April 24, 2009 at 9:52 pm
Living in Florida we all know what its like to have such an old and out dated electricity grid. I don’t know how many times I have lost power in my apartment because the building over loaded the power supply in some way. To know that something so small could take out almost half the nations power is very scary. You think the economy is bad now. Watch what would happen if even just a few of the larger states lost power for a few days. I’m sure that would cause a pretty large economic ripple. Not to mention if you live in one of those states, I know what its like to not have power for a few days because of hurricanes. Its not the type of thing I look forward to experiencing again.
21.
Harrison Phillips | April 24, 2009 at 11:06 pm
Well thanks to this article I just realized how fragile our energy grid really is. I was happy to read that President Obama has already begun putting money towards a solution. With technology developing so fast these days, I can’t wait to see what the next revolution in energy will bring us. I think that google energy monitoring project has an awesome idea. If we just knew more about how we are using our energy and how we can affect it, a definite change can be made in everyone’s habits.
Technology can also help us to develop more energy efficient devices. It will take a combination a of revised grid and better electronics to solve our future energy problems.
22.
John C. Lehmann | April 24, 2009 at 11:54 pm
I wasn’t aware as to how unstable our energy grids were granted I can’t say I am surprised. Look at what it took for car manufacturers to make seat belts. As we all know the earth is becoming more populated and thus will require more energy and if possible cleaner energy. We have solar, wind, oceanic, thermal, and a new one that might work and be the most efficient will be fusion. If they can get the fusion reactor to work properly a couple minutes of it running will be able to power an entire future city. Or a city that requires huge amounts of energy.
If we could make it work it will be the cleanest and most effective form of energy production in the world. Although taking this new energy and trying to hook it up to the rundown facilities will probably pose more problems. at the same time it might force the power companies to finally update their facilities.
23.
Sean Hale | April 25, 2009 at 8:37 am
Interesting article, like many I didn’t realize that there was a problem with the power grids of America. It’s funny that it isn’t until you dangle an incentive in front of a company’s “face” that they’ll attempt to make a change. The reports shown say that this is a problem years in the making and needs to be addressed now, but the companies don’t want to play ball.
It just boggle my mind that it takes a little bit of greed now in order to do something that has greater benefits for the company later. You’d think they’d want to save money in the long run.
24.
Russell Bradford | April 25, 2009 at 1:01 pm
I can’t believe that there is a problem with our power grid. I feel as if i need to pay more attention to what’s going on in the world. I do not think that they should blame this on Edison. The man was an absolute genius, he was not thinking about what would happen 100 years later. I’m all for companies to start upgrading there systems so that we can have more efficient energy.
I think that the incentive plan would work out really well. I big companies helped invest in the upgrade of these companies they could get cheaper energy. Putting solar panels on people roofs would be an excellent idea too. Rechargeable power for our homes would help out so much.
25.
Trey Buongiorno | April 25, 2009 at 3:34 pm
It seems as though all the originally great ideas are now being revealed to be inefficient or costly. I’m glad that the article helped me understand the problems with our power grid, but I also kind of feel helpless. There is ‘power to the people’, but we consume so much energy on a daily basis that it still feels like a stressor. I got the impression that there would have to be some lifestyle changes, and that discourages me. People aren’t willing to change for problems they barely understand.
Investing in new solutions, such as alternate energy sources, or even the so-called ‘energy field’, seems like a good idea in the long run. It should help with research and lessen the impact of the unemployment we’ll suffer when we do finally convert from the centralized power grid. Our society has become very dependent on electricity and energy, and this article made me reflect on that.
26.
Lauryn Duerr | April 25, 2009 at 3:52 pm
Well that article was semi-interesting. I didn’t realize that there was even a problem with power in the world. In fact, I don’t think many people are familiar you with this problem. We just take everything for granted. Until a hurricane comes. But now that I see how dire the situation is, I cannot believe that nothing has been done about it yet, especially when it could save billions of dollars.
I have actually been to Thomas Edison’s summer house in Fort Myers, Florida. It is a really nice piece of property. He also had a laboratory there, which I found fascinating. I don’t see how they could blame him for coming up with the system that he did. At the time he was around, it worked beautifully. It is not his fault that society did not upgrade it when they needed to.
27.
Charles Scoggins | April 25, 2009 at 4:13 pm
“Blame Edison” – haha – I found this hysterical. In hindsight, let the lazy civilian blame an inventor whom opened the door for the technology lifeline we have now. I don’t agree.
We, now, have infinitely more knowledge about what works and what does not work within our world than Edison, or anyone in the late 19th and early 20th century did. I’m glad to see Obama taking the initiative (even if I see the Education crisis worse presently than power) to set aside funding for future solutions. We cannot always rely on pre-modern knowledge to get us by this day in age. I never really will understand why we get ourselves wrapped up in something that, if we would have thought about this fifty years ago, we wouldn’t be in the predicament we’re in now.
28.
Carlos Lopez | April 25, 2009 at 4:17 pm
This is my favorite article yet. I had no idea how big of a problem in the future this can be. People aren’t going to cut back the amount of energy they use and the prices are just going to go up. We need to change the system from the single grid and we as citizens should really look at how much energy we consume. I like that President Obama has already started addressing this problem. With Edison, his ideas on energy were crucial but nobody could’ve predicted during his time the type of technology advances we have made.
Now is the time to make changes. I’m currently studying electrical circuits and is really making me this of changing my major from IT to electrical engineering since I know they are going to need in the future and could come up very costly. It’ll be interesting to see the different ways we can come up with energy. With it being a sunny day outside today, solar energy would be great.
29.
Austin House | April 25, 2009 at 7:12 pm
All hail the almighty dollar… Seems that’s the driving force that kills our economy, isn’t it? You need it to make it, and the more you screw things over to get more money for yourself, the worse you put everyone else off. If they had just taken half a second to realize leaving this ancient tech alone would eventually put us in such a bind and it would end up costing the WORLD a TON more… I dunno. Seems they’d do it anyway. Jerks.
I hope we can get some coordination going. The key to fixing up this recession is finding a way to knock energy down to minimal if not free. It’ll screw over companies that’re banking on people needing energy, but I think we all need to take a step in the “Star Trek” direction and be a little less greedy, don’t you?
30.
Ryan Abrams | April 25, 2009 at 7:32 pm
I liked that the article mentinoed Duke Energy, since I’m from North Carolina, and I am glad to see they are trying to help. One way in which i have already started using technology to help fix the grid is by making sure my home appliances are at least Energy Star. That is also helping save on water as well.
Another way in which i am using technology is simply by turning off unused computers, lights, and any other electrical objects that aren’t being used. I know this is kind of trivial, but it helps save me money, and while it may not directly fix the grid, it will at least be less energy used until it can be fixed.
31.
Travs Ellis | April 25, 2009 at 8:00 pm
With the growth of America’s technology there must be plenty of ways for us to reinvent if not fix this problem. The editor said blame Edison, in reality he was right by saying its other companies and consumers faults for allowing such an doutdated system to work and not be made better by constant reworking and diligence. To be honest the problem is really our own fault in letting the companies keep such an obsolete floor plan for our evergrowing nation.
By engineerning technologies that increase the output with less input such as upgrading solar panels with a more solar abosrobment material that will enable the panels to store more energy. Same goes for “wind fans” creating a more streamlined and powerful turbine that requires less energy inputted to increase the power output. For Obama’s adminsitration, reinventing the power grid will be a daunting task and a test of adversity as other states will wish to have their upgrades first. I am hoping that we create a streamlined system that allows for more energy to be transferred from cleaner power plants to energy hubs that disperse the energy to the homes and cities and keeps things simple and allows maintenance to be a breeze.
Cheers.
32.
Matt Chimento | April 26, 2009 at 9:14 am
It’s true…the grid needs restructuring, and it won’t change soon unless someone starts taking chances and forcing other companies out of their comfort zones. Unfortunately, the federal government can’t change it, or set a single company to change it, so the rest of the companies have to either team up or compete ferociously.
Doesn’t Florida have it pretty good? I mean, FPL covers basically the whole state, so if we lose power at UCF, the people other people affected would be Tallahassee and Miami, and MAYBE Lakeland, right? Not even any of the other states! That’s pretty lucky.
Also wanted to mention that I was living in Connecticut when the huge outage in 2003 happened, and it was pretty freaky. We were figuring for a couple of minutes that either the Apocalypse was happening or the Russians were finally invading. And the second it happened, my mom plugged the vacuum into the wall, so she thought for about two months that she caused the entire Northeast blackout. Would have been a cool story….well….never mind.
33.
Corrinne Schultze | April 26, 2009 at 9:57 am
Wow, I knew the whole grid was pretty inefficient, but I didn’t know it was THAT bad! Especially living in Florida, I never even understood why we bother with above ground powerlines in so many locations. We don’t have much room underground before you hit water, but hurricanes don’t mix well with vulnerable powerlines. It would probably be a lot better to invest in doing things better/safer now than having to repair them every time a big storm rolls through.
I knew grids were connected from county or county, or even state to state in some cases, but I figured it was just for a real emergency backup. All of these crosses of wires and people controlling different areas is confusing, and does seem “just plain dumb” like the article said. Also, the article was right – we’re living in the 21st century, and haven’t changed all that much since the 19th! We really need to update the system for how much energy we consume, especially with all of our computers and electric/hybrid cars.
As for technology improving the environment, I’m sure we can hook up a bunch more “clean” sources to help generate power, and more efficient ways to transport it. All of the coal powered plants seem a bit too Industrial Revolution time to me – we need to upgrade and start using wind, solar, or water power. As far as I know, the Sun isn’t going anywhere anytime soon, and especially in Florida, it’s almost always sunny; if not, we’re surrounded by water, and could even harness the tides as a means of generating electricity.
…Also, when I read the word “gigawatts,” all I could think of was Back to the Future!
34.
Nicole Gayton | April 26, 2009 at 11:32 am
This article was okay, I felt like there were some gaps in it, leaving things unanswered and suggesting some untruthful facts- and going so far as to blame Edison is a little far-fetched. With that aside, the system that we have for power IS in need of reform, but in order for a reform to occur everyone must be in agreement that there is a problem to begin with. So then, why aren’t the companies in charge of the grids adjusting these things themselves. I would like to assume that it is because they are blissfully unaware that they are doing any harm and if they realized it they would change their ways. Yet, as with any other business, I am disheartened to think that money plays a greater factor than economical concern. I hope that I live to see a time when everyone; people, companies, and grids alike, are transformed by new technologies and creating/using a more efficient energy source. By “efficient” I not only mean that the energy gets to everyone cheaply and without outages, but also, that the energy is environmentally friendly. We have the tools that we need, and now with continued government support, this issue has the recognition it was begging for- So, now that we have our tools, what can we make of it?
35.
Monica Ibarra | April 26, 2009 at 12:36 pm
I’ve known for a while that the energy issue was a problem. Ever since hurricane wilma hit my house, our underground utilities have always been a mess ever since. It wasn’t until then when my parents told me how the system works. Even though we have one grid, the people we look toward to take care of the electricity just leave it to do whatever. Americans us a lot of energy everyday and with all the problems we are already facing, we don’t need another one.
I’m happy President Obama is trying to fix the issue, but it will truely take more than just technology and money to fix it. Americans need to stop being so dependent on energy . Besides it would save a buck or two. But if the people don’t do anything, then nothing is going to change.
36.
Jacob McElroy | April 26, 2009 at 12:37 pm
I, too, immediately thought of Back to the Future when reading the word “gigawatts” (and I wanted it to read “jigawatts”).
I was unaware that an outage in one area could mean an outage somewhere a good distance away. I hope that more utilities companies will look into better, more efficient methods. Of course, I know that they won’t be doing it for the environment, but still, a good deed done for selfish purposes is still a good deed.
I’m a bit more conservative about my electricity usage than most, but I’m still pretty useful. In the future, I’d like to be able to use solar panels and an electric car (or at least a hybrid).
Hopefully, the necessary efforts to upgrade the outdated problems with the grid will be made. But, I’m not too hopeful that it will happen in the immediate future…
37.
Carly Czachor | April 26, 2009 at 1:26 pm
This was a nice and informative article. I feel more informed for sure. I really didn’t know much about the grid, and it feels good to understand that a bit more now. But, I do feel sad that so much of our world is based on short-sighted, immediate reward, personal profits, etc than whats good for the future. But I get it. That’s the consequence of the free-market based economy.
But, you can’t stop progress. And it seems so many are so concerned with how much and how quickly they can get their hands on the almighty greenback, that these business have created this mess, not desiring to let go of their solid gold toilets or whatever. I was actually aware that Edison, no matter how great and wonderful everything he did was, was in fact always doing it for personal profit rather than philanthropy. So that didn’t surprise me that he kinda screwed things up. But I am glad that things are changing and finally progressing!!! That’s exciting! It’s the stuff that kids in the future will be taught about in history classes!
As far as what I can do with technology to help the environment… I think the coolest new thing is that books and newspapers are slowly becoming all digital… instead of cutting down more trees or wasting so much precious water and using more energy to recycle paper. I think it’s interesting that there’s been so many people out there… smart educated newpaper people… whining about the loss of the newspaper and how “sad it is that the kids will never know about reading the paper with your coffee” or whatever. Uh… like I said… you can’t stop progress people! Digital information… newspapers, magazines and books make information and education available to everyone and help the environment! It’s not bad, it’s just different than what you’re used to. But life is about change so get over it!
38.
Brian Shields | April 26, 2009 at 1:32 pm
I had very little knowledge of this subject before reading this article, and I’m surprised at the amount of trouble we’ve gotten ourselves into. This articles does a good job of pointing out how just “plain dumb” the single grid system is, and does an okay job of explaining how to fix it.
The fact that President Obama is putting so much money into a cause like this is encouraging. The outlining of how much power would be needed in the future as well as coal plants really demonstrated to me the need that we have to increase funding to renewable and clean energy as society exponentially moves forward in the 21st century. Hopefully we can garner the funding, technology, and unanimous support we need for this essential issue.
39.
Caitlin Havener | April 26, 2009 at 2:22 pm
I really do not have much knowledge at all of energy and tried to gather what I could about what they meant regarding “the grid system.” I assume that this would be the network of power cables that run the streets and connect to where the energy is produced. It is quite irritating when big areas lose energy because of a fallen tree or what-have-you. Therefore, this system definitely needs to change.
I tried to come up with a way that this grid could be revised with technology. I wonder if like analog television was converted to digital, something like this could happen? I’m really not very technologically-minded, so I really don’t know. What I do know, is that with all the upcoming technology. There should be a way to revise this “ancient” grid method. I think that they need to come up with a different mode of the energy to travel rather than by wires that can easily be disconnected. If they could make energy travel like the internet does, then there would be no disconnection (that I know of).
40.
keena roye | April 26, 2009 at 8:02 pm
Using technology to fix the environment isn’t something that I even thought was possible. Technology is one of the reasons why the environment is in the shape that it’s in now. Sometimes I fear how much we rely on technology. With each year we demand more and more energy use. It’s estimated that the “demand for electricity is expected to increase by as much as 40 percent in the next two decade.” I’m definitely guilty of relying too much on technology, after all, I am a digital media major.
I like the idea of the Google Power meter. This is something that is simple and convenient enough to be used by almost anyone. It’s an app that I’ll take advantage of from now on. I don’t think there’s much that I could do as an individual, but I like the fact that President Obama is willing to put money into a new energy agenda. If the government is going to spend money, I’d rather it be used for something like energy and job creation.
41.
Vanida Vongsamphanh | April 26, 2009 at 8:22 pm
As bad as it may seem, there are still new energy efficient things created all the time, just recently i heard they created a new line of solar panels that can be made with a special kind of printer, and that these solar panels alone were 50% more effective than its predecessor.
With the campaigning recently on how everything being manufactured is GREENER, I can see that there is already much thought being put into this.
I think personally that this article is just in a little over its own head.
42.
Alejandro Ruiz | April 26, 2009 at 8:47 pm
Another eye opener article on the environment and our irresponsible use of resources. Its going to take a lot of effort and manpower to readjust our current primitive power grid. 357 coal factories need to be built to supply the growing electric needs?! Minus well set the earth on fire now.
I enjoyed the mini history on Edison, the guy to blame. I knew he invented the lightbulb but I find it interesting that he controlled a monopoly on its production and distrbution. He must of been the Bill Gates of that era.
43.
Sarah Reinstein | April 27, 2009 at 12:58 am
Yay, we’re going eco friendly!! This article made me happy. I didn’t know about this grid before reading the article. It seems out of date at the moment. It probably was great when created but now with the population growing ((doubling in a decade or so according to the article)) we are in need of improvement. I cant suggest any new ideas though, I’m no engineer.
Development in a new grid could lead to new job opportunities and maybe a discovery of some awesome new power!!! As for using tech to improve the environment, I just have everything unplugged and turned off when I leave. Also, I use energy efficient light bulbs
44.
Veronica Olan | April 27, 2009 at 1:48 am
I was honestly clueless about not only how our energy consumption led up to what its become today but also the level at which it’s at. I see how the greed of our predecessors has so negatively affected us today and has put the whole world in a bind. We have to be responsible with our usage and have control. This can start with us being more knowledgeable about our consumption such as some of these companies are starting to do. The better we do today the better our future can be. This also means these companies sacrificing their profit now for better profit later by putting more into research.
Technology is obviously what we are going to be relying on in the future and we need to make it work not only for our benefit but also for the benefit of the world itself. This technology needs to not only be created but also properly used by everyone. We need to think about the future cause there is only one planet earth and we need to keep it around as long as possible.
45.
Justin Wilson | April 27, 2009 at 1:51 am
Wow I had no clue the power grid was like a mess of tangled, aged wires running across the US. This new idea for fixing the power grid sounds good though, and the $40 billion that Obama gave to the power companies should certainly help.
I am also wondering how wind/solar power will come into play in the future. Why can’t all houses use solar panels on their rooftops to increase energy efficiency? I also think those efficiency bonuses from the government may not be completely effective, if the company makes more money without being as efficient even after the incentive then what is the point of the bonus? There needs to be a more full proof way to promote these companies to be efficient.
46.
Alexander Murphy | April 27, 2009 at 1:52 am
The extent of the inefficiency of our national power grid at the moment was way beyond anything I could have guessed. It’s going to take a lot of work to fix it, involving all of us and some serious policy work with the government. It’s good to hear that Obama has a plan, but it seems sort of vague, and more of a generalized funding thing than anything else.
Starting a new design for the grid would be extremely expensive, but in the long run would save money, since we’re supposedly already losing one hundred fifty billion a year, forty billion for a start seems logical. Hopefully a more simple design, without all the complicated additions made over time, will work at a level efficiency that is acceptable.
47.
Sarah Wright | April 27, 2009 at 10:23 am
I understand that people are wanting to make the environment healthier and more liveable, but I’m not sure if spending billions of dollars on it is good for it either. I feel as though people should be more concerned with doing the smaller scale projects over one huge one, just to get things started.
I would help make the environment better by using more solar energy and help make the cars less harmful. I know that both of these things have already been done, but I haven’t seen it done more than in just a couple of areas. They haven’t used either of those to make a large improvement on the environment today.
48.
Kim Shelpman | April 27, 2009 at 10:26 am
This was an interesting article. I liked the way it provided an extensive history into the grid to fully understand the depth of this problem. Technology and lack there of, has gotten us into this mess and it will also help get us out. The power grid has changed little in its infrastructure in the last hundred years. And with energy demands rising even further, something has got to change. President Obama has called for a new energy agenda with his stimulus package directing more than $40 billion to energy reform. Half of that money will be going to creating a better and more functional grid.
Because our grid system is so outdated, technology must first start there. Companies such as SmartGridCity will allow customers to monitor their electricity consumption via the Web and also pump wind and solar energy into the grid. This is a good start considering the companies had trouble monitoring themselves a few years ago for the Northeast Blackout of 2003. We are making progress but much more needs to be done and fast. Technology is the key to fixing this problem.
49.
Emma Durand | April 27, 2009 at 10:35 am
This situation is much worse than I thought. It seems like this system has been bungled for years and with all the problems that face us now today (climate change, energy independence, and economic demands) we are really in an extremely difficult situation. From the article, it really seems like politics and business are what flawed this system. They pigeonholed companies and penned them against each other. Little money was spent on creating a more efficient grid. Now we have to deal with a firestorm and have little time to fan the fire due to pressing issues.
Technology is the answer; in addition to along time and money. Innovative minds are also needed who can look to the future instead of just focusing on the here and now like has been done for so long.
50.
Sean Lambdin | April 27, 2009 at 10:35 am
Kinda scary that all of our power comes from a single grid. I know its expensive to be searching for new ways to make the grid effective in costs and environment, but I really think its worth it. If we could make our energy grid run off things like solar power and wind energy, we could get some serious progress into alternative fuels, such as electric cars.
Large scale solar panels and wind energy to power us would help us get off of our dependence of foreign fuels. If we could just start with this, we could move onto to other, more efficient fuels, and finally get our energy crisis under control.
51.
Yoldeen Saintfort | April 27, 2009 at 12:03 pm
It is evident that we have been waisting energy and because our techology use is bigger, energy is being lost. I would have to say that it is our own fault. It seems as though no one tryed to solve the problem until it became bigger than life.
Its sad how the grid had not been updated since for ever. Solar power could become the answer to our huge problem. If the sun is up half of the day, it would be smart to actually use it for its power.
52.
erik werlin | April 27, 2009 at 1:10 pm
Wow, this article was very interesting. I had no idea there was a problem with our energy grid. I liked how the article said that 40% of our energy wherever it comes from is converted into electrons and transmitted over the power lines. I also though it was a little funny how they also said how old, and outdated our system is and how it could be taken out simply with one misplaced tree. Something must be changed especially since our need for electricity is expected to increase by 40% in the next 20 years. We really need to use the money President Obama gave in the stimulus package to fix and make the grid much more efficient. We also need to look into better energy technologies. Improve on solar and wind power.
Fixing all of this is going to be a very expensive thing, but that’s the short run of it. The long term effects would certainly out way this. We would have cheaper, cleaner, and more efficient forms of energy.
53.
Rachel Blank | April 27, 2009 at 1:44 pm
First and foremost, we need to be more aware of how much energy we waste individually! After reading this article and going to the links it had…like google powermeter…it made me think. I’m guilty of wasting electricity. I have a tv plugged in that I barely use, as well as two speakers and I’m sure everyone in my family does it too. But back to the powergrid.
I had no idea that we all got our power from a grid that was connected so inefficiently! It’s a scary thought. We all depend on electricity for EVERYTHING. Hospitals need it to power machines, freezers, computers, keep the air especially cold and much much more. I personally have had medicines that must be refrigerated. If another blackout happens in a populated area, it would be extremely chaotic!. We need to spend more time and money finding a more environmentally friendly, reliable, efficient way to provide energy. If we don’t, it’ll be all of us who suffer the consequences
54.
Nicholas Colonnese | April 27, 2009 at 2:33 pm
Yeah, the grid sucks, I get it. This article was of interest to me until ti started citing renewable energy. The larger issue here is the rising demand for power and renewable energy will not, in out lifetime, be able to keep up with demand. Sure, it will increase, but it will never provide enough power. We still need traditional power plants, and sure, they are bad for the environment, but the death of all of humanity isn’t going to help either. As far as green energy goes, solar and wind will do very little, especially because they depend on the area in which they are setup to be efficient, but nuclear energy is the way to go.
Nuclear can provide the power and it does it in a green way, producing little waste. Its also very safe (meltdowns and other disasters are a thing of the past, when nuclear was just starting out) it would probably take an actual planned attack on a power plant to cause a disaster like in the past.
55.
Bryan Raborn | April 27, 2009 at 3:23 pm
we are coming into the newer age where our electric systems demand more and more power and we are really wasting our non renewable sources using the older power systems. we need to do something to either replace the current wire systems or come up with a new way of working with the energy.
I am actually surprised that the entire grid system still works after being implemented so long ago and barely changing over this entire time. Hopefully, we will see a big change over the next decade as we are moving further and further into the age of technology.
56.
Andrew Boyd | April 27, 2009 at 5:02 pm
So, Edison is to blame for all of this? I should have known. If I may deviate from the topic, I would like to share some interesting information I learned in another class about Thomas Edison, incase anyone is interested. Back when in the early years of film, when Edison was trying to have a monopoly over the film industry, he didn’t really believe in giving actors credit and thought that he only needed “Edison Films” in large font across the top of a poster to sell a movie(as seen on the poster for “The Great Train Robbery”).
Additionally, to ensure movie theaters were only using Edison’s projectors, he would send people to theaters to break their equipment. In an attempt to break free from Edison’s monopoly, independent filmmakers went to California to establish their own studios, away from Edison’s sphere of influence. That is how Hollywood was founded. Regardless, he was a very influential man whose legacy lives on today as evidenced by the reference in the article about the power grid.
57.
Jonathan Strong | April 27, 2009 at 5:15 pm
The idea of blaming Edison is…retarded, he invented something, he didn’t invent something and then prevent people from inventing something/implementing something better. That was the lazy/ uncaring average american that got us into this mess, not him.
Technology is, contrary to what the article says, is whats going to get us out of the “mess”, that and the money that the tax payers are going to fork over. People in power already have a plan to fix it, there is no reason they didnt see this happening years in advance, there is just no reason to change until your face to face with the problem.
58.
Bradford Taylor | April 27, 2009 at 6:28 pm
Although this topic is completely new to me, I can’t actually say that I am surprised. It does make sense that our grid has not been updated. I can’t recall the last time the state of the grid was brought to my attention; it’s not like the warnings and news you get when a city builds or fixes roads. So while the article suggests that we don’t have much time at all to fix the problem, I believe we have already started the trend in helping out our grid.
While most of the population turns its attention toward the promise and hope of renewable energy, I agree with the article in that we must fix our current problem first before moving forward. This will, in turn, make it easier to implement newer resources, since we can start small and build upward. I think the single greatest thing that has come out of our troubled economic time is the way we, and our government, spend money; we have grown smarter and more aware. Imagine how much more our grid would be stressed if we weren’t in an economic crisis and were free to use electricity carelessly. Trends that we have already begun include: the switch to smaller built, more efficient processors that require a lot less power to operate, higher efficient light bulbs and appliances, more efficient window and insulation technology, the push for more efficient vehicles and means of transportation, less power consuming OLED TV’s. While most of these investments are made to lower one’s electric bill, the big side-effect is that it requires less demand from the grid. Granted we still have a ways to go, but hopefully with these changing policies we will able to fix the problem before it gets out of hand.
59.
Rafael Mendoza | April 27, 2009 at 6:28 pm
Anybody caught in a hurricane knows how easily whole zipcodes can lose power for days at a time. If they designed a whole new grid today, i hope they’d model it after the internet. This will create more than enough redundancy. It also allows for Systems like SmartEnergy be more effective as well as provide an effective way to handle power generated from solar-powered homes.
In edison’s defense, he didn’t live in a modern world, in his time, vertical intergration was the way to go. I’m sure it was easier to build everything in house in a time before awesome communication networks like we have now.
60.
Brooke Elliott | April 27, 2009 at 7:33 pm
New technology, especially alternate sources of power, will help with the future of power. Making proper use of the current system would be helpful, too. Instead of transferring electricity from far sources for the sake of profits, which would mean going back to the simplicity of the begining of power plants. However, with the increasing demand for electricity, that won’t be enough.
Beside the technological advances, the article points out the importance of government incentives and regulations in modernizing the system. People work for profits, and if rules are placed to make efficiency profitable, then we’ll head in the right direction.
61.
Danny Bruno | April 27, 2009 at 7:54 pm
This was a pretty interesting artilcle. I had never really known much about the severity of the energy crisis until reading this. It’s incredible that this one grid is the core of our energy. While I’m confident in our current administration’s efforts to try to clean this up, I can only be hopeful that those endeavors work. It seems like we’re the ones who are suffering for the mistakes and negligence of the past, but we have to something to fix it.
What I found the most interesting was this web-based form of monitoring energy consumption. Also the concept of the smart grid sounds cool. If companies work on this type of network it would benefit them and the consumer.
62.
Denielle Cox | April 27, 2009 at 8:15 pm
I didn’t know that we had a power problem until after reading this article. I also didn’t know that all of the power was basically on one grid. It was very interesting reading it. I do think that it is kinda retarded that they blame Edison for an inefficient power system. I mean he invented some major things. You have to give him credit for actually creating it, not blame him for it being crappy.
I definintly think that solar panels will become a main technology in the near future. It will really help the environment and make it healthier. It will also get us off of relying on other countries fuel.
63.
Pei Hsin Kang | April 27, 2009 at 8:20 pm
Finally, the points are brought up with these grids. With almost everything is being improved today, it makes much sense to do something with our power lines, since our utilizations of electricity depended on them. This article has a lot of interesting points. Some of their solutions offered on the left are not suitable, but it is intriguing to think and analyze for the new solution. In its context, it blamed Edison for making our grid systems as bad as it today, but I do not think we really should blame a guy for our history of self-interest.
The improving of these grids is necessary, and I do believe that the technologies can find ways to fix it. Yet, it is always easier to say than done. There are too much barriers to make these plans to work, if without self-interest (like the case of Duke Energy). I am very happy to see that the new government is doing something to eliminate these barriers. I think, truthfully, the question is not about how we can use tech to improve the environment. In many situations, it is about how we can stop look at our own benefits and follow the plans to implement technologies that will benefit to all our lives in general.
64.
Kyle "Grizzly" Ollice | April 27, 2009 at 8:26 pm
I don’t get it. I was not under the impression that we were in such dire need of new power. “we only have a fraction [of a century] to fix the problem”… i don’t think the world is ending in the next 20 or so years unless the Aztecs were right about 2012.
I am not saying that we don’t need energy reform. Cheaper and better sources would be a great help… i get hit up for 40$ plus each month on overages on my dorms electricity cap. but i don’t think it is as dire as they make it out to be.
65.
Veronica Vega | April 27, 2009 at 8:40 pm
So much of today’s “energy crisis” debates have been fixed solely on an alternative to fossil fuels. The inefficiency of our electricity grid is something altogether new to me. I agree with the author of the article in that new technological innovations are rarely created without government incentives or other expectations of profit.
Technological breakthroughs are always evolving, however, it is going to take many more years for something like the smartgrid to become widespread, economical, and convenient to the average electricity-user. Electric cars are extremely expensive, and only a select handful of people within the US even have one, so I don’t think this issue of “grid reform” is as big of a deal as the article states. There are many other things this country should reform that are more important, in my view, such as rising education costs, broken social welfare systems, and more focus on protecting and ensuring the next generation of our nation by stressing personal values (and allowing them to live in the first place).
66.
Raqeebah Zaman | April 27, 2009 at 8:46 pm
Though Edison contributed much to energy based inventions, and I respect him for that, he was more of a business man. He owned a company and had other inventors work for him. And that really does mirror the state of the energy industry today. Money seems to be the core source for problems and solutions nationwide. Like any other company/industry, the corporations main goal seems to be to make more money and not necessarily to help and provide to the consumers needs as well as to benefit the environment. Even though making profits is what pushes a company to move forward and the workers to work harder, again, the amount of profit being made needs to be proportional to the amount of work being done. To find out what should be considered proportional though, is an entirely different issue.
That being said, because of the economic crisis going on right now, instead of these energy companies making loads of profits, they are coming closer to bankruptcy. (This is a result of Karma.) There are clearly lots of different issues that added to this. However, I definitely agree with the solution of “resetting the button.” The energy companies need to find ways to use existing/new technologies and rebuild the grid as to both satisfy consumers and producers. With the deteriorating atmosphere and environment, there also needs to be an implementation of cleaner/safer technologies. In order to do that, the industry simply needs to be refurbished from top to bottom.
67.
krystian lorenzana | April 27, 2009 at 8:48 pm
the energy crisis is a gigantic issue and this article really gives the issue a greater sense of urgency. it was odd to read that there wasn’t as much funding for research compared to other companies. now that this has become more of a prevalent issue, it is nice to see the government finally working towards fixing this energy problem.
the idea to watch and calculate energy consumption via the internet is a GREAT suggestion for furthering the way we consume energy. i am interested to see how it eventually pans out over time.
68.
Ryan Schelong | April 27, 2009 at 9:04 pm
That was an interesting article, at first I thought it was going to be about alternative energy solutions which is all you really hear about now. Instead it was about something you never hear about and something seemingly far more easily fixed and important. Seeing how even if we did go 100% renewable we still would have this grid from the 19th century like it stated in the article. Which they further proved by divulging semi humorous details such as the grid still has “unreliable electromechanical switches and analog controllers.”
It’s a relief to know that things are being done to correct this problem. Such as the bill Obama passed and the incentives to actually upgrade the grid. In short I think that its great that things are in fact being done to solve this major problem. In addition to bringing it to the attention of the general public, the GE ad with the wizard of oz scarecrow, who sings if I only had a brain, comes to mind.
69.
Michael Dris | April 27, 2009 at 9:06 pm
I had honestly never thought about most of the information presented in this article. First of all, the way we transmit or move power to the masses wasn’t something I thought was crucial to making power more efficient. The article says that 40% of all power is transmitted along these power lines that could fail or be broken so easily and haven’t been updated in far too long.
It was good to read that the White House is taking steps to change the grid and make it more efficient so that it will be able to handle the 40% coal power usage over the next two decades and the surge of electric cars. The idea of rewarding companies for upgrading the systems is a novel idea, but seems unlikely. When it is cheaper for a company they would rather keep the inefficient system before spend all the resources to get a percent reimbursed. The Duke example seems to be a better or more likely route, becoming efficient in order to turn a profit at a later time as well as take over smaller corporations.
/I really like how this article combines legitimate information with blatant sarcasm.
70.
William Jordan Waller Robert Aaron Olive | April 27, 2009 at 9:14 pm
I kinda knew that there were problems with power but i didn’t know that it was to this extent. The fact that we are still only operating off of one central grid really explains a lot. But, i dont think we should exactly blame Edison, what he did was amazing and changed the world it was from our own mistakes and misunderstandings that we are stuck with these problems. Just because no one was complaining at the time doesn’t mean it was ok to just ignore something that could have been a potential problem in the future.
Im glade to see that this problem is being handled by the government. Hopefully this help us find new sources of energy. The whole idea with the smart grids sound like a very interesting topic and i might read up on this article some more.
71.
William Jordan Waller | April 27, 2009 at 9:46 pm
plz ignore the fact that this has two names on it, i forgot to erase my partners name after assignment4
72.
Sofia Puente-Lay | April 27, 2009 at 10:01 pm
The way the grid is set up now reminds me of that one example of a network system – I think it was the ring system – where if one node loses power they all do. As explained in class, it seems like it is indeed very impractical and costly. Though I don’t have much faith in complete rehauls, it does seem as if the steps that are being taken now will lead to some improvement, though not immediately. If somehow we could change into a system like the Internet or a mesh network, where one can maintain power even if other nodes die, and problems can be isolated to a single location, it would definitely be a step toward the better.
But like the article mentioned, to improve the grid will also take personal responsibility. There was mention of Google’s PowerMeter – I think having a user-friendly way to monitor personal power use will definitely help to decrease the tax on the grid. It reminds me of the hacker video and article awhile back, where there was mention of people inventing things to monitor their power use through broadband and some other things. I think these grassroots technological advances will be a large part of the success of the grid overhaul, rather than complete reliance on the government and business incentives.
73.
Sami Fahad | April 27, 2009 at 10:03 pm
i’m all for green energy and smart grid seems the way to go for efficiency of working people
i don’t see how technology can get us out of mess…after all the technology is the mess we are in: malware, virus, etc and the way to stop this malicious technology is if we the people stop using and depending on technology
but i doubt it that will happen
74.
Bryce Everhart | April 27, 2009 at 11:29 pm
I wasn’t aware that our energy grid was in such disarray. I thought our only major issue with energy was how we produced it, not that it was also majorly inefficient.
It surprised me even more to learn how little we were funding the grid’s development. It powers our country, why in the world wouldn’t we fund it’s development?! Although the article talked about the money being provided to it now, I’m disappointed that it took this long for them to do that.
75.
Hugo Brandt | April 27, 2009 at 11:41 pm
With some of the states constantly plagued by outages- for instance california, and the assumed power demand increase with our technologically advancing society, the inefficiency of the power management system is a blatant problem we are now forced to grapple with. The ineffectiveness of the power grid has always been a problem, seeing as low level natural disasters often have no problem at all at taking out whole power networks by just pushing over a few poles.
Changing the method of how power is monitored and produced sees like they are the most crucial problems that have to be addressed for progress to be made anywhere. Luckily as the article says Xcel and Duke energy have already invested in projects that allow for much better and effecient communication in the power grid. And with the hefty instated power bill, pressed by obama, things arn’t looking too dismal. All of these are just in a conceptualized state at the moment though- what’s needed is for some of the technology to actually surface- then we’ll hopefully be seeing a new wave of better and more efficient power management.
76.
Bryce Ruppel | April 28, 2009 at 12:02 am
I think that we’ve been overdue for changing the grid. However, I wasn’t aware that the grid was that widely used. Even so, I don’t really like how they sort of attack Edison, because he did something that any other person would’ve done had they innovated electricity. Back then, I doubt he considered the idea of a lack of resources, so efficiency wasn’t an issue.
My favorite part of this article is the idea of viewing your electricity consumption over the internet. When I found an apartment, I was told about the electric cap, which immediately made me wonder how I could check it at any given moment, so hopefully this idea spreads quickly!
77.
Jared Ward | April 28, 2009 at 2:08 am
I wasnt not aware of the current power situation. i just thought, hey my lights turn on so i’m good. I didnt now that the grid was so outdated. 40% of our power travels through the grid and it is expected that power consumption will increase 40%, wow that seems to work out so nicely. Maybe we can start another grid to make up for this future 40%.
It does seem like a problem too big and too expensive to fix but power is what runs our country and without it we would be in the dark. I do think that they should regulate the plants more often and make them more efficient as it is such a big problem and is projected to be an even bigger problem. It looks like duke and xcel seem to be on the right track.
78.
Charles Yribarren | April 28, 2009 at 3:11 am
The article is a bold call to action… it tells us why the current system is in such disarray, so inefficient, and it tells us what we need to do about it.
But all the promises we’re recieving from the White House aren’t so comforting to me, and the plan to repair the grid is in the earliest stages of execution. And there it will stay unless someone actually does something about it. I just hope that someone actually does find this project worth their time.
79.
Michael Contardo | April 28, 2009 at 3:56 am
Being built on a model first created by Edison, our current system of power distribution and management needs a drastic change. these proposals will take time and the ideas need to take root in the modern economy and current structure. As a proposition this article succeeds but that’s only one part of the equation.
The seven ways seem like they will be very effective, especially making conservation simple and easy, however this is easier said than done. We’ll see what the future holds.
80.
Richard "Eric" Halloy | April 28, 2009 at 7:43 am
This article does a great job of emphasizing the urgency of change in the US power grid. The article was also depressing though because it implied that the change would still be very slow.
I find it scary to think of our country as behind in energy technology. Eventually though, I think that change in the grid will come out of necessity… and all will be well.
81.
Tyler Southwell | April 28, 2009 at 8:16 am
The grid was a pretty good idea when it was created but its far too inefficient now. Only recently these companies are starting to improve it which is obviously the right thing to do, but how long will it take to see major changes? If a plan fails or the market changes a lot of research could simply be abandoned because of costs. These companies need more incentive to do the research because we need to fix the grid as soon as possible.
With modern science we should, in theory, be able to find solutions to the crisis pretty fast. The question is will the research be done? With the economy as it is I can see a lot of research being overlooked because there’s not enough money to conduct it. We need to get moving with all our crises fast.
82.
Carlos Franco | April 28, 2009 at 8:44 am
I definitely believe that we need a way to not only cut down on energy usage, but also find a better way to put it up. Power lines are too easy to cut, and I think we have the technology to create more efficient and cleaner ways, so as to benefit us and the environment at the same time.
I find it surprising that this issue has existed for a very long time, but only quite recently has the government stepped in to do something about it. It’s almost like the issue of poor, starving people not only in third world countries, but our own, and instead of spending our money on food and shelter, we spend it on weapons and soldiers. Either way, it is best that we at the very least create a new safer alternative our current power system. We could definitely benefit from the money we’d save from outages that didn’t happen.
83.
Regina Campbell | April 28, 2009 at 8:45 am
It’s interesting how I knew of plants, and the wires that connect to consumers, but if (before reading this article) someone were to mention the term Grid to me, I would have no idea what they ment. Reading the article finally cleared that up for me. I’ve always concidered the electric grid as something that’s always been around. I’m surprised that it has progressed much technologically wise.
The whole thing is linked to energy consumption and production and our country is dependent on it at this point. With all the crisis that have risen up in the last 8 years this seems like a good place to start and try to turn things around. I’m hoping that plans involved for the electric grid will help to solve others problems that may stem off of it.
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Christina Chalfant | April 28, 2009 at 9:15 am
I agree: We should blame Edison! This article was very informative on the current situation we face with energy and our present economy. I guess I never really thought about energy in terms of grids and the inefficiency of it. All I know is that I’m happy when I flip a switch and it works (most of the time). I’m at least glad that Obama’s conscious about the energy and its increased demand. I’m also glad to know that the stimulus package will create more jobs, since that’s a big issue as well. While I agree that the electricity grid may be an issue, I believe that the over abundance of competing electric companies and their greed is a bigger factor that is screwing over this economy even further.
85.
alexis salgado | April 28, 2009 at 9:28 am
i definitely agree with this article. our energy use over the past quarter century has been extremely inefficient. we need to find new ways to create, store, and use energy.
top of the list of to dos need to be sustainable energy. we need to find ways to create energy that are clean and renewable.
86.
Robert Aviles | April 28, 2009 at 9:32 am
Wow, are grid truly is a mess, fortunately the issue is becoming more of a priority for this administration and has become more aware to the public. Though I’m sure that the technology will improve in the future.
What I found interesting is that with hybrids and electric cars with clean emissions on the rise, they still need a source of electricity to charge them. This puts an even bigger demand on our current energy grid system. Probably causing more outages and what not. In addition, the electricity used to power these electric cars are still produced by fossil fuels. Energy efficient vehicles only solves one part of the problem.
87.
Mauro Wieser | April 28, 2009 at 9:36 am
Wow, I had no idea that the energy grid in the U.S. was such a cluster****, pardon my french. I cant believe that more is being done to improve the situation. I mean, it seems pretty common sense to me that if we want to solve our energy crisis, we need to start with this terribly inefficient energy grid. I just don’t understand why more money is not being invested into improving the grid.
It is good to hear that some companies are actually trying to do something. I hope they can be successful in their endeavor, and maybe then other companies will follow their example.
We need to use our increasingly good technologies to preserve the environment. All the tech in the world is useless if it dose not get used , like for example, to improve the energy grid. We need to use what is available to us, and not try to survive on ancient systems that are highly inefficient. Some may say,”if its not broken, don’t fix it” but there is something definitely wrong with the U.S. energy grid.
88.
Brian Naidus | April 28, 2009 at 9:44 am
As an Environmental Studies student, this is my cup of tea. The main thing I have learned that pretty much every thing we do and have done is bad for the environment. No matter what alternative energy source you use there will be drawbacks. What we really need to do, and what the article mentioned is to, propose and initiate a new energy agenda.
I’m curious to see how President Obama deals with this concern, there really is no ONE RIGHT answer; our best method is a collective method of proposals carefully planned to work efficiently and over long-term. Short term costs are not important, I’d even go as far as to say as they prevent economic and environmental meltdowns later.
Good example of Duke spending billion dollars to save energy, i expect they make their money back in a heartbeat. Off topic, i think our economy is currently in trouble because we planned for the short-term rather than the long term and are now dealing with the consequences. The only thing we can hope to achieve, is to increase research, because technology is only way in reversing alot of the damage we have done. It is with this that we need to change alot of our habits and ways of thinking, and the government will definetly have to play a role in assiting.
For example, alot of these grants and subsidies will have to focus on energy efficiency so that people and companies will see the benefits to invest. Fixing the grid is no easy task, but it is possible, and with a new way of thinking and collective actions, I don’t see how we can’t live one day in a world of total efficiency.
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Paul Nguyen | April 28, 2009 at 10:04 am
Before this article I was not aware that 40 percent of all the energy used in the US was converted into electrons that travel over 300,000 miles of aging, inefficient transmission lines/wires. If the grid is unresponsive and is causing steadily increasing outages, why should we allow it to cost us $150 billion a year?
We should let the major power outages in big states such as New York and California be an example to why we should act quickly. In the near future if demand for electricity is expected to increase by as much as 40 percent in the next two decades then we will have to generate an additional 214 gigawatts, which would require the construction of more than 357 large coal plants, why don’t we just start being more efficient and invest in something more useful now.
After reading this article I agree that we should invest time and money into fixing our grid structure. It’s a shame that Today, utilities allocate just 2 percent of revenue to research, if tweaking the grid’s communications capabilities can increase transmission efficiency by 50 percent with no additional wires necessary, why doesn’t anyone do it? With our current technology, reinventing the grid to be reliable, efficient, responsive, and smart sounds like one of the easier tasks at hand these days. I am glad that President Obama has called a new energy agenda “absolutely critical to our economic future,” and that his stimulus package directs more than $40 billion toward that goal. I agree that technology alone won’t solve this mess, but it is definitely a start in the right direction to better our environment
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Juan Rivera | April 28, 2009 at 10:24 am
Electricity is something I only think about when I pay the bill. Otherwise I consider it to be reliable and abundant, compared to back home, Puerto Rico. When I was little we used to loose power all the time. I don’t quite understand how the grid actually works but I’ve at least been told that if in some remote area in North Carolina or was it California looses power that we could also loose power and that always struck me as inefficient and counter productive.
Like most other topics that like health care, education, water, and maybe even internet access wouldn’t be profitable and in the interest of the United States for the government to control and distribute the services from these institutions including electricity. I’m glad to see that president Obama is interested in helping the crisis but I don’t agree that just throwing money at it will fix it. I thing that whole things needs to be reconfigured and I think that the government should do it because they would, at least, be the least biased.
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Corey Kramer | April 28, 2009 at 11:25 am
It doesn’t surprise me that or power grid is barely able to support what we may potentially require. But it is good that technological advancements are becoming more economically friendly. Computers and other personal devices are being built to consume less energy, as well as the new breeds of hybrid cars.
It would be nice to get more government involvement pushing the new grid idea from Xcel. This is a problem that will only go away if it is addressed, and will only cause more problems and cost more money if it continues on. SmartGridCity is a $100 million project, and according to the article, outages from our current grid cost us $150 billion a year. I think we can afford to put a little but more money into research like this.
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robert Olive | April 28, 2009 at 11:26 am
this article really brings it to my attention how old our energy system really is. For some reason it never really occurred to me that we are still basically using the same technology for electricity that we’ve been using for at least a few decades.
Its a relief that people are thinking about this and that change may be possible in the near future, but we as a country need to get on this. 357 coal plants in the next 20 years? I dont think thats going to happen. something will definitely change before then, at least hopefully.
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Ian Goldsmith | April 28, 2009 at 11:32 am
Honestly, I never knew such a threat existed. Obviously, a single massive power grid will have a variety of faults, requiring the reconstruction of a more efficient system. At any rate, I’m glad to hear that the government is attempting to solve this predicament. The author states that 40 billion dollars will be used (the largest sum of money the government has placed into an energy crisis), making to me look forward that this project will hopefully turn into a positive outcome.
Regarding the author, I admired his devotion to his topic, although it was somewhat biased and some arguments were irrelevant. For example, he blames Thomas Edison when all Mr.Edison was attempting to do during his time (1880) was to provide electricity to others. It is not his fault that we have this outdated system. If we are to blame anyone, we should blame ourselves for not adapting with the change and evolution in our era. That being said, I hope this attempt to correct our power grids will come out as a success.
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Pei Gwen Tsai | April 28, 2009 at 11:34 am
Like one of the grid problems states that energy problems is not something that everyone thinks about often..until there is an outage. Where I live, we get at least one brown outs every four to six months. I am not surprised that we are using up too much energy. Like the first solution on the list of seven, if every one would use solar energy, we could individually create more energy to put back what we don’t use. Installing “green” technologies however, it is expensive. So, I hope the stimulus package Obama’s creating, covers the costs of these.
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Allison Gawarecki | April 28, 2009 at 11:34 am
You know how we can fix this? Turn off your god damn lights! Or turn off your computer when it’s not in use. Do you even know how much energy a sleeping xbox360 pulls? It’s ridiculous. According to the article 40% of energy we use just travels through the wires to get to its destination. Its insane! Yes, we need a new alternative as the article also states. But until then just unplug some shit. Saving energy isn’t that difficult.
After reading this article I’m an even bigger fan of Obama. Finally a president that get the energy crisis! I bet he unplugs his things. Seeing as how it looks like we are going to be growing 40% in the next 20 years we really need to get on this thing.
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Lee Fuller | April 28, 2009 at 11:34 am
Probably the most pressing reason to veer away from coal usage is the electric car, as they pointed out. Obama wants a million on the road by 2015. That’s not going to happen if people don’t buy them, and if their shiny new EVs are still making coal plants spit out massive quantities of CO2, no tax incentive apart from making them free will be enough for most consumers in the know.
Consider that for each kilowatt-hour (kWh) you charge that hybrid’s battery, a coal plant pumps out, on average, 2.5 lbs of CO2; each gallon of gasoline emits 20 lbs. These are our constants. So let’s say a gas-powered car gets 24 mpg . Plug-in hybrids at present get an average of 4 miles per kWh. Quick math: 20/24 = ~.84 lbs of CO2/mile, and 2.5/4 = ~.625 lbs of CO2/kWh. Not a huge difference.
Hopefully, with the $40b on the grid and the $2.4b grant towards EV research/production, we’ll have electric cars that actually achieve the goal of cleaner air. Even more hopefully, they’ll be affordable to the common consumer, enough to where we can still stimulate the market but not go broke. The $7,500 rebate won’t even be half of the cost difference between a standard petroleum car and electric car… And all that extra cash is going to the battery. That presents another problem. How are part manufacturers going to keep spare parts in production? Will they need as many as we need engines present-day? Will the batteries have a warranty? If so, for how long? And these are just financial questions that need to be answered over the next decade. The first step is using that grant money to “fixing” the power grid and researching, producing and manufacturing expensive but efficient lithium-ion batteries. As for the grid, I don’t know how they intend to pay for not only upgrading it, but paying for its maintenance. Unless we have space cash.
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Tamra Pristou-Globokar | April 28, 2009 at 11:39 am
I guess now would not be the best time to bring up the fact that I’m an out-of-state student from Hawai’i and we have our own separate power grid. No, didn’t think so.
I’m glad to see that work is being done to repair/improve upon the system in which electricity travels in addition to the electricity production itself. I’m just sick and tired of the whole “humankind is destroying the planet and will cause a massive climate change very very soon.” We’re insignificant. I mean… we really are. Even if we did cause a climate change and we wiped ourselves out, the earth would keep spinning and right itself out again.
But yeah… power grids. Nasty tangled up mess. $40 billion devoted to untangle it. Mad UCF students/faculty deprived by budget cuts infiltrate the labs and steal it to make the greatest story of the year. Then they all get blown up by squirrels. The End.
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Daniel Stone | April 28, 2009 at 11:40 am
The writer of this article is not well informed about the current state of our electrical grid, nor the mechanics of how it works. The alarmist statement that 1 untrimmed tree can shut down 1/4 of the country simply isn’t true. I assume the author is referring to the blackout of 2003, in which a few trees were a contributing factor. However, the main causes included a faulty plant shutting down, operator error, and computer software glitches that caused the grid monitoring software to fail, blinding the operators to what was going on.
In general, making things more complicated is a bad idea. Adding fancy computerized components to the grid will not make it any more reliable, but will probably have the opposite effect. Additionally, the only way to “motivate” power companies to implement these expensive upgrades is to pay them: either directly through rate hikes or indirectly through government subsidies.
Instead of trying to “modernize” the power grid with expensive unproven technology, the government should instead focus on making companies consistently implement the cheap and reliable technologies already available.
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Daniel Crawford | April 28, 2009 at 11:44 am
That is a lot of power being wasted every day. Corporate responsibility seems to be a big topic these days, and the public have not been outraged at corporate America only until recently. Large corporations seem to only change when the people that support them (customers) begin to get pissed off and question their decisions. Individually people in our socity feel like they cannot do anything to prevent corporate waste, but as a group we don’t have a problem voicing our opinions about large corporations.
The best way for me to save energy is to use that Google energy application when it becomes more developed and my complex has the right type of devices to track power usage. That look like some exciting technology that will be really helpful in tracking where I use the most energy. At my last apartment I was being charged around $100 extra each month for some unknown reason. I refused to pay and they eventually figured out there was something wrong with my AC unit. With the Google application I could have figured that problem out for myself. Until then I will have to research tips on conserving energy.
100.
Aaron Karol | April 28, 2009 at 12:10 pm
This article really opens my eyes to another problem with our country. Before this article I had no idea what kind of shape our power grids were in. Before reading this, my mentality would have been the same as the power companies. I cannot believe we are using this much power on a such a terrible system. I am glad that we have Obama in the house, he seems to be going in the right direction with this energy crises.
How could i use technology to improve the environment? Probably the best way is to not use it at all. I do not have many skills with technology and how to apply it to our energy crisis, but i can limit my energy usage till someone else can figure something out. I am not saying to change our lifestyles to prohibit doing the things we love, but simple come together to try and conserve energy. Even if its just making sure the lights are off when you leave the house, or the room, every little bit counts.
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James Horne | April 28, 2009 at 12:30 pm
I’d really have to do more research beyond this article to have any grasp of the situation. I take it smart grid means more intelligent meters, more redundancy for outages, and restructured grid management or fewer governing bodies and better communication.
I guess a lot of people fear that more intelligent meters will lead to different pricing at different times for different people or areas and in the end, more expense for the consumer. If that’s really all the new meters are for, I’d say I’d be against government spending for that particular item. It would be useful however, to be able to monitor specific items in the home for power usage. Given the opportunity I would definitely switch out appliances to keep my bill low as long as the cost to switch them out was worth it in savings.
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Blake Lawrence | April 28, 2009 at 12:41 pm
I knew our environmental output wasn’t perfect but this article really showed how bad it was. I used to like to think that we will keep getting progressively better as we advanced with newer, cleaner technology, but when an article in a tech magazine says tech alone won’t solve the issue, you know we have a problem. I don’t understand why they won’t spread out how we generate energy to different sources. I know their is the technology out there, why aren’t we using it.
The whole thing is kinda scary that we are at the end of our power grid. Although it was very good to see that Obama approved $40 million towards energy. With that much money our top brains should be able to get us more energy.
103.
Ben Schaberg | April 28, 2009 at 12:57 pm
With all too many blackouts happening lately, especially in a city as huge as New York, I think the power grid should be a fairly large focus for power companies. The efficiency definitely needs to be stepped up. Obviously, the public can do their part by saving energy and be energy-smart – turning off lights, using power strips, etc. As the article states though, it is imperative that the companies who manage these grids make efficiency a priority for the future, as it seems to be a heavily electric one: electric cars, growing population, increased use of digital technology etc.
I do my best by switching off lights when I leave my room, turning off my computer overnight, and using power strips to consolidate my electronics. Likewise I think a lot of Americans are was well, now it is the electric company’s turns.
104.
Adam Nogaj | April 28, 2009 at 12:58 pm
Unlike many of the articles we’ve read for this class I was nigh ignorant about the issue of our electric grid. Having heard all about solar power and wind power etc it somehow didn’t occur to me that the fundamental way we obtain our energy is in dire need of restructuring.
This article in that sense is an awesome and informative read about the problem as it stands. I disagree that blaming Edison is a viable solution but I suspect the statement was made with some amount of sarcasm. The business model hasn’t changed too much since then apparently, but corporate greed most certainly hasn’t. The aforementioned greed is what we have to blame for this system.
It was heartening to see(read) that the Obama administration is putting a strong effort into fixing these problems. It seems to be a herculean task though, one not likely to be solved soon unfortunately.
105.
Joshua Emerson | April 28, 2009 at 1:02 pm
I knew the power grid was pretty inefficient and needed some improvement, but not as badly as in the article. It’s pretty bad when companies like to keep the power grid the same, while adding more to it with power plants with no upgrades so they don’t have to pay for it. It’s good to see however that the grid is getting more attention and plans are put in place to upgrade it for more efficiency.
The problem is the companies don’t want to pay to upgrade the grid, or anyone for that matter. It wouldn’t be as profitable. What they don’t realize is the longer the companies wait to upgrade, the more money it will take to make massive transitions down the road to conform to the new technological advances that demand a better grid than the coal heavy grid we have had.
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Jonathan Robles | April 28, 2009 at 1:05 pm
i never really thought about our energy grid before. i mean ive thought about our energy consumption but never our grid and this article has shown me a lot of things i never thought about thats really obvious. the grids around the world are pretty bad and yea if a tree falls in a wrong place lots of people could lose power. also i like there ideas for fixing these problems there difficult to do but they are obviously the best way to fix our energy consumption and grid problems. its scary though since its going to take along time to get all this done even if its possible since the world can be uncaring at times. at least obama is doing alittle help fix the problem even if its not directly. i really do hope though that we can fix this problem for the next generation.
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William Corbett | April 28, 2009 at 1:06 pm
We’re still using Edison’s system? Amazing everything even still works. Everyone knows Tesla was cooler anyway. It’s going to take time for new ideas to take root in the modern power structure. It’s good to know that there is at least some research going into it.
It seems like most of the problems were born out of problems we see in all industries. They’re just trying to do it with the least amount of cost, which is never the best way.
108.
Alex Stevenson | April 28, 2009 at 1:22 pm
Its amazing to find out how out of date our power grid is. I’m from South Florida and with the recent migration to all underground power lines I thought FPL was on top of things, but I guess not.
Based on my Simcity days and real world understandings, I would have all the cables moved underground. Then I would would have remote monitoring boxes throughout the grid so the electric companies could monitor the grid in real time. There should also be research done into materials that would make the transmission of electricity more efficient.
109.
Paul Crites | April 28, 2009 at 1:44 pm
I think energy solutions are long over due. People use too much energy for either the lack of knowledge or lack of care. It is kind of surprising to see how out of date our grid is though.I think people being more mindful will help a lot in the energy crisis. People leave their computers, tv’s, and lights on all the time without a second thought.
But I think trying to add more technology to try and solve the problem is going to just make things worse and use up more energy than it could save.
110.
John Hammons | April 28, 2009 at 1:50 pm
Duke Energy? Are they at all Duke University related? If so, they’re interest in Utility of the Future initiative was definitely a political move. Duke has little interest in the enforcing their own “greenness” as evident by their sports programs.
We definitely need to update our power infrastructure. It’s very believable that we’d still be using systems that Edison set up; the mantra of the old ways is usually “if it isn’t broke, don’t fix it.” Of course, there is money to be made by making something more efficient than it’s counterparts. I’m all for using newer technology to produce cheaper, cleaner energy. I just want some better broadband tubes out to more areas as far as infrastructure goes at the same time.
111.
Amy Wildes | April 28, 2009 at 1:50 pm
I never realized what a crisis all this was. but the article made me realize that some serious change needs to be made. The whole thing is kinda scary that we are at the end of our power grid. That is a lot of power being wasted every day. And being companies are the main to blame for this.
Although adding fancy electornic computers and such may seem like it will improve the problem in some ways, i think it may have a negative effect by using more electricty. but im not an expert on the subject so to me, it doesnt matter how its fixed, just as long as it is!
112.
Jennifer Hale | April 28, 2009 at 2:26 pm
Wow, this article is an eye opener! I had very little idea of how much the United States uses, but I never knew that it was as much as it really is! And after ready this article I can see there is a definite upgrade in the power grid!
I found it a little scary in the part of the article where it says things like “Demand for electricity is expected to increase by as much as 40 percent in the next two decades, more than twice the population growth rate.” And “We also want to plug in dozens, if not hundreds, of gigawatts of wind and solar power harvested from the most remote corners of the country.” It is crazy to actually see some numbers that are going to have to change because of the demand on the power grid! I believe with an upgrade of the power grid, that will not only help the problems of the stress now, but help in a way, the environment in the future.
Oh yeah I like the “Go ahead, blame Edison” Part!
113.
Cody Mattox | April 28, 2009 at 2:33 pm
Well, it always seems like we’re in dire straits. America is running out of this, we’re being poisoned by that. This actually seems like a pretty serious situation though. When our population and demand for electricity is outgrowing our suppy then we need to rethink our situation. It seems that instead of using our ever improving technology for ipods and things, we should use it for more important things like this. I think Obama has a pretty good plan and I have faith in it. So i’m really not worried at this point.
114.
Karla Kahn | April 28, 2009 at 4:07 pm
I have an electric bill that is too high every month! Ha, I have noticed a problem with the grid for a few years now and hate it. I like Obama’s Stimulus Plan and hope he really comes through with his new ideas to help our energy crisis.
Also to include, I felt the 7 ways to fix the crisis was a very enlightening article. Hopefully, the president will be able to do more for us now and fix our energy problems and help the environment.
115.
Craig Cohen | April 28, 2009 at 4:31 pm
I knew our energy ratings and our energy conservation was pathetic, but I never thought it was so horrific. I know about the NYC blackouts, and how much power we use. So many other countries have solar, wind, water driven power already and we are just skimming the surface currently on that area. If America is supposed to be the leading country in so many things why are we behind in this area? I think we are starting to actually think about what we are doing wrong and what other countries use to be more “green” and adapt them to our current system if possible.
I am glad to hear that Washington and Obama are really looking at this . With him granting millions of dollars to this effort, will really make it progress quickly. I know it will not be overnight no matter how much money he allocate, but something is better then nothing. Let’s all face it, we may live in the best country, but there will always be other countries that are much better in some areas then the USA.
116.
Charles Johnson | April 28, 2009 at 4:33 pm
I had no clue that a large part of our energy problem was the power grid we used. I guess thats where lack of planning and only doing things for the present get you. It is good to hear that some large companies are working to fix the problem, even if the reason is increased profits. It also sounds like there is too much oversight involved in the grid and that maybe its the reason why things have gotten so bad is because changes don’t happen quick enough. I used to laugh at those who were for being energy efficient, but now I can see a good reason to be so. I think I’ll go turn the light of in my room thats been on for three months straight now.
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Dominic Gonzalez | April 28, 2009 at 5:13 pm
I didn’t realize our electrical grid was in such bad shape, but looking at the development of the grid from a business standpoint, it makes sense. To help the environment, obviously we need to bring the technology involved to a point where we can produce the energy we need with the least number of coal burning plants and a reliable system.
Giving businesses good incentive to do this is the best plan to achieve this, because the government won’t do it, and if they do it will be unreliable and they will tax the soul out of it. It’s up to private companies.
118.
Mallory Short | April 28, 2009 at 5:25 pm
We as a nation have come so far with the help of technology. You have to give Thomas Edison credit for the electricity that we have in this day in age. But we are far from the early stages of the use of electricty and it is up to us to come up with ways of improve the old concepts with new that benefits us as well as the world which we all live in.
People talk about taking action, but do they? It’s great to know that president Obama is taking the first step forward towards leading us to following better habits in using electricity. He will be directing stimulus packages toward use of coal. A big improvenment that technology can have a play is by upgrading the grid overall and fixing controllers, switches and hardware.
119.
Aaron Giordano-Barry | April 28, 2009 at 5:32 pm
I try to keep everything in my house unplugged if it’s not in use. Unfortunately, with the power grid the way it is based off what the article was describing, it doesn’t seem like me doing that every day of my life makes much of a difference, when you take a look at all the people that just leave EVERYTHING on ALL THE TIME. It’s disheartening to know that a lot of our economic troubles spawned from this power grid retardation when it was initially installed (given, that was a LONG time ago, so they couldn’t really forecast what we needed now and in the future, so it’s understandable) but i think that over the years, instead of being ignorant to the situation and not constantly improving the grid bit by bit, we’ve sort of put ourselves in this position. I’m glad that Obama is opening up more jobs by putting $40 Billion into the power grid upgrade, and i hope that our struggles with energy comes to an end soon.
120.
Alex Sushil | April 28, 2009 at 5:49 pm
an overhaul of the current technologies used for the nation’s electrical grid would not only assist with the promotion of a healthier economy but also with a healthier environment. The use of incentive programs to utility providers that comply with such upgrades in their technology could potentially translate into direct benefits to the consumers that support a ‘greener choice’ in electricity, via both a reduction in pollution and lower bills.
Even individual efforts to promote “green energy” should not be overlooked. Many homes can be powered with roof installed solar panels, often times producing a slight surplus of energy that can be sold to a local utility for use elsewhere. This concept of “green energy self-sustainability” could be incredibly innovative in rural communities that typically feel the strongest impact when the current grid system fails, therefore reducing some of the strain placed on the system and increasing it’s stability to provide service until a complete technological overhaul of the utilities system can be obtained.
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Alex Sushil | April 28, 2009 at 5:50 pm
Ignore my previous comment:
Just as FDR’s 1933 New Deal helped the US shake the aftereffects of the Great Depression through largescale efforts to upgrade highway infrastructure via Public Works, an overhaul of the current technologies used for the nation’s electrical grid would not only assist with the promotion of a healthier economy but also with a healthier environment. The use of incentive programs to utility providers that comply with such upgrades in their technology could potentially translate into direct benefits to the consumers that support a ‘greener choice’ in electricity, via both a reduction in pollution and lower bills.
Even individual efforts to promote “green energy” should not be overlooked. Many homes can be powered with roof installed solar panels, often times producing a slight surplus of energy that can be sold to a local utility for use elsewhere. This concept of “green energy self-sustainability” could be incredibly innovative in rural communities that typically feel the strongest impact when the current grid system fails, therefore reducing some of the strain placed on the system and increasing it’s stability to provide service until a complete technological overhaul of the utilities system can be obtained.
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Elise Robinson | April 28, 2009 at 6:18 pm
We must make it harder, better faster, stronger. I think that we do need to get all this tweaking and fixing going. I am happy to see that 40 billion is going to go into this goal of remaking our energy infrastructure. We need tech to help improve this energy grid. Although i didn’t know it was so bad in the first place, but then again i never bothered to look. With our crisis i believe its time to look at the big picture and for power companies to stop looking at their own revenue.
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Christian Cheker | April 28, 2009 at 6:41 pm
It’s about time many of these concepts were instituted, energy demand is at an all time high. The farther we advance technology, the more we seem to need electricity, so we should have seen this need coming years ago. Programs should have been instilled long ago to better the delivery and consumption of energy across the world. How can we expect to be a country on the cutting technological edge if our sources of energy don’t advance just as quickly as our electronic gadgets do? This article was a real eye opener.
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Katherine Betz | April 28, 2009 at 6:52 pm
I didn’t realize how far the companies were transporting the electricity. It’s great that the government is attempting to find a solution to the inefficiency though. Hopefully it will help fix the grid and remove some of the coal-fired power plants.
As far as how we can use tech to improve the environment, I would love to see less coal power plants on the grid due to some new and improved energy system. The article was very optimistic about our future in electric usage when it mentioned the millions of electric cars we will be plugging into the grid. Already though, I have been saving a few trees by using e-mail instead of sending letters via carrier pigeon.
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Cole Tolpin | April 28, 2009 at 6:53 pm
What really struck me as a solution to fix our problems was introduced rather well in the article: We should streamline new legislation that specifically cuts through the red tape that stands in the way of the issue. Thanks to companies like GE, the technology for smarter power grids is already in place. All we need is the political and opportunistic drive to make sure the job gets done. Especially in a time when government has the opportunity to create more jobs until the economy is back on track, there are scarcely few projects that are as important.
Much praise is given to Edison for his inventions and especially his stable electrical grid systems, but we have inherited the bad habit of inefficiency that the system creates. To solve today’s crisis, the population will have to not only come up with new ideas, but they’ll basically have to go back to the drawing board. It’ll take a long time, and a lot of ingenuity, in order to fix this crisis. As long as the bureaucracy allows it, it shouldn’t be too painful of a transition.
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Sara Johnson | April 28, 2009 at 7:11 pm
I enjoyed this article, and how it was informative without going into too many complicated details. It was especially funny at the start of the article, how the author used phrasing such as “the real shock is that the damn thing works at all.”
That aside, I didn’t realize before how inefficient our power grids were. I knew that we were moving to cleaner energy like wind and solar, but I didn’t know that we didn’t currently have power lines that allowed it. I’m so glad to know that so much of the stimulus money is going to be going towards fixing these problems. As for how we can use technology to be more energy efficient, there are all sorts of devices now for measuring your energy usage and even for putting good use to “idle” energy. For instance, the google deskbar has a device specifically made to help you use your computer’s energy more efficiently. And programs like folding@home will use the energy your PS3 or computer is using (but not -putting- to use) and run protein folding simulations for research.
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Felice Yip | April 28, 2009 at 7:26 pm
Sadly to say for myself, I suck up electricity without knowing how I get it. I just assume I’m getting energy through water power. NEVER knew that coal plants were generating energy for us. It is also sad to say that the U.S. doesn’t monitor carefully their hardware or even try to update them for example the Ohio event. Also many of us are saying wow! The U.S. uses A LOT of electricity, but thank goodness that the government is putting a great effort in trying to correct the grid.
Technology is the key to almost everything. I love the idea that Xcel is trying, where we can monitor are energy consumption through the internet. Not only does that help us keep try of were are electric bill is going, but also makes us feel more responsible in trying to use the least amount of electricity as possible.
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Julie Bollinger | April 28, 2009 at 7:28 pm
We are all well aware the country is having growing pains, be it population, technology or development. The author of the article just bitches a lot with out much support for anything he says, we just have his word. The article was poorly written and needed to cite sources to be credible [I'm working on an ENC paper so I'm overanalyzing things now].
Its all gibberish to me so I cannot say anything. No matter what we do I’m sure 40 years from now they will be complaining about what we did to ‘improve’ the grid.
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Jacques St-Laurent | April 28, 2009 at 7:50 pm
While I had not read of how inefficient our energy system has gotten, I believe I was aware of it. I mean, it just makes sense. The systems haven’t been upgraded in far too long. The system has just been built up from a small system to a system far larger than originally intended. The original planning didn’t plan for this to be the system we’d be using this late in our history.
It’s good to see that President Obama has taken interest into the system. This is a huge part of our future. If we can’t efficiently deliver energy to the public, then our whole economy will shift. We need to figure out a solution, and fast. Hopefully with new technology we can discover a solution, such as new ways of sending energy.
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Geoffrey Miller | April 28, 2009 at 7:51 pm
I’m in absolute awe right now. I had no idea that the grid system is so outdated. Things obviously need to be changed if we are to avoid any sort of massive power failure one of these days. I find it incredibly funny though that the main problems facing the people who want to overall the grid system are the businesses themselves. Like the article states, the United States has always been its worst enemy.
Not to sound like a communist or whatever, but this country has been damaged too much for far too long because of the freedoms these companies enjoy. It would be some much better if the government was allowed to step and be like “look, you messing up the country with your shit. Either change it and make it the way we want it or we’ll find someone else who can.” The bottom lines of companies and industry leaders’ pockets always seem to be more important than the country itself. I think its time someone put the smack down on these people so we can change the country for the better.
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Nkem Isi | April 28, 2009 at 7:57 pm
i think one way the tech world can improve the environment is by using different resources to have people more aware one how to improve the environment. for example i had an old computer and i knew that i just couldn’t throw it away in the trash cause that was bad for the environment and things like that should be recycled and i’ve been trying to find a place that it could be recycled and i haven’t been able to. like little small things like that could be included in different website that people generally go to on an everyday bases like your email. like including small facts on simple thing that can be done to make this world a cleaner place to live because alot of the damage that has been done can be changed or be less drastic if we all just make small simple changes to our lifestyles.
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Jalen Flores | April 28, 2009 at 8:11 pm
Wow, the power situation is pretty bad. I see why we must save power now, or at least make it more efficient. Sure, we can blame Edison for putting us in this mess, but if it wasn’t for him, we wouldn’t have the luxury of using power today.
The article said that technology can’t alone fix the problem. The author then went on the say that this is a systematic problem. The only way to fix this is for companies to try to improve themselves with self-interest (meaning make more money). Companies have already begun to do this.
I personally can’t fix the grid and it doesn’t seem like I can even do anything about it unless I was running an electric company. But even after reading this article, it’s still hard to believe that energy is such an issue since I’m doing just fine.
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Sean Novicki | April 28, 2009 at 8:12 pm
So, the infrastructure for one of the most important systems in our country is dirty, inefficient and poorly maintained? What a surprise. This is an important article, calling attention to the shortcomings of our electric grid in the face of a rapidly approaching future filled with increased need for electricity. It’s clear from the article that the grid in its current state is ill equipped to deal with our future energy needs.
Like most of our nations big problems, we need companies to recognize that spending money now will lead to continued profit in the future. The grid needs to be repaired and upgraded, but since most companies only want to think about the money they can make NOW, and not about spending anything, increased efficiency is an uphill battle.
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Nora Villapando | April 28, 2009 at 8:30 pm
I’m not sure what technology could be used to improve the environment with this case. The article says that technology alone won’t solve the power grid problem. It states that it’s more of a system problem. Obviously, some large improvements are needed and I think money is the bigger issue here. I wasn’t aware of the bad state of the power grid. I actually thought it was working pretty well since the grid is the reason why not everyone’s power will go out at the same time. It’s really useful in that aspect, but I guess the grid hasn’t been worked on; it’s only being added onto.
It looks like one of the reasons we’re having problems with the power grid is because for many years it’s been neglected. Those with authority to do something on it have all been too afraid of what kind of response they will get from the people. Most people probably aren’t educated about the power grid and wouldn’t want to invest their money in fixing something they know little to nothing about. I think this is probably an issue that needs to be publicized more.
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Tabby Hayden | April 28, 2009 at 8:32 pm
So, I read the article, then I read the comments. I trust people comments as much as I do the journalist. The people who work in the field obviously see things differently then this writer.
I have to admit, I think the climate change is honestly absurd but I do agree we need to find ways outside of natural resorces to turn into energy but solar power? To be honest I doubt the technology is there. Our entire country is based on technology.
In a few weeks there will be solar bursts which have a chance of knocking out basically everything that makes this country tick. Satellite and radio signals, electricity power grids, basic things that we need. But we DON’T need them. We have made it so we are completely dependent on technology. making it so we are even more dependent is not exactly a good thing.
Live Free or Die Hard!!!!!!! Though I doubt that could ever happen, it shows how easily just a few things going out is over.
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Joshua Searles | April 28, 2009 at 8:33 pm
I’m surprised this article didin’t Mention Tesla. Tesla’s system of Alternating Current (AC) is used for the long distance, rather than Edison’s Direct Current (DC) which in populated towns the wires would block out the sun. But Tesla’s system hasn’t been improved much over the years, so i could see why people are craving reform for the grids. what constitutes are a mega battery?
Tech can improve the enviroment. I believe ‘Prototype this’, a show on Discovery(may be a different one), has tried to produce mechinisms to automatically plant trees from the air. I believe they finally got a system which could plant trees with ease and the waste is biodigraible for the items that were on just for the ride. Crazy what people think of.
I also found the part of the cities that are being lab rat tested on to see if the systems are worth using. Wish I was in one.
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Heather Buchanan | April 28, 2009 at 8:45 pm
I always knew the power grid was just one big grid, but I didn’t know how bad it was. It’s amazing- we have accomplished so much in this country, wasted so many dollars on absolutely worthless items, yet we rely on this antiquated power system… With technology improving at the rate it is, coupled with its lowering costs, you would think having a power grid that could handle it would be a top priority. Maybe if someone makes a big fuss about the $150 billion wasted by this failing system something will be done…
By investing in technologies that produce cleaner energy, we can help the environment. It really comes down to, however, creating an efficient energy delivery system that doesn’t waste time or money. Every time the power grid goes down, not only is money wasted to patch the grid, but gas is wasted to drive the people out there to fix the lines along with resources used to actually repair the lines.
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Jason Caissie | April 28, 2009 at 8:46 pm
As a kid I always thought power lines were dumb and unsafe. That fact that we waste almost half the amount of power we create just boggles my mine. It’s not even an accident, it’s negligence! I know corporations don’t care about the planet, but how can they not care about losing precious energy that the charge us up the butt for. If the power company was a little kid, their father would have beat the crap out of them for leaving the lights on! Good thing we recognize the problem and are trying to fix it. This makes you wonder how many other things are wasted like this and we don’t even know about it!
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Corey Kay | April 28, 2009 at 8:50 pm
The world has the technology, the manpower, and if the economy shapes up, the funding, to improve our every aspect of our lives. What we do not have, however, is the politicians. The industry clashes with the government when it comes to regulation. Individual state governments compete for control of more grids. The boards appointed to control interstate disputes are inept.
Each cook looking to cater the meal wants his own recipes used, but no food is being made to begin with, so we have to order takeout which is cheap but bad for us. Politics is the single most detrimental process to any progress, and until all the politicians are happy, nothing will really get done.
But when are all the politicians happy?
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Michael Berlam | April 28, 2009 at 8:53 pm
Power is definitely something that many of us take for granted. Most of us don’t even think twice about where the energy is coming from that allows us to turn on a light or boot up our computer. The grid crisis is also something that has been heavily overlooked. The media goes great lengths to display the environmental problems in America and the things we are doing to help it (i.e. increased wind and solar power), however they neglect to mention how all this power is to be spread. The grid is an extremely flawed system. How many things today are made so that when one thing breaks, the whole system shuts down? Very few obviously. Hopefully some kind of improvement can be made within the next few years.
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Stephanie Donoghue | April 28, 2009 at 8:55 pm
I never knew this was such a big issue. It is so easy to take electricity for granted. The way people promote electric transportation as the next great environmental idea, you’d think we had this limitless supply of energy somewhere that would cure us of our oil needs, but we would just be replacing a dependence on oil with a dependence on more energy (whether oil, coal, nuclear, wind, etc.).
I think better technology is the only way out of this problem. I’m not sure how I myself could assist in that way (I’m no electrical engineer), but I think everyone can help out by educating themselves enough to make better decisions about their consumption/energy use, etc. I hate it when people become apathetic and think that as a single person their actions don’t matter. Apathy in large numbers is terribly destructive. If we could all decide to be part of the solution we could accomplish great things.
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Evan Adamson | April 28, 2009 at 8:57 pm
I was aware of the fact the grid is one entire method our energy is transferred, but I was not aware that its great inefficiency is what can cause things such as the blackout in 2003. I was very intrigued by the history behind the problem explained in the article. Too bad Edison’s greatest invention is starting to hurt us in this day and age.
I am very glad Obama is taking the initiative to attempt and solve this crisis. Even if the solution is far in the future we must start now, as not to delay the solution any further. I am confident there is a modern day “Edison” genius out there that can help find an answer to this problem.
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KC Brady | April 28, 2009 at 8:58 pm
Using sun panels and adding them to the grid was a good idea to help lower energy to help become more efficient. In other countries, they pay farmers that use solar panels to help with greenhouses or use for energy.
I do not know how close we really are to creating a better energy system, but I do not think pouring billions into it will change too much for energy. Keeping the grid but adding other way to create energy to help soften the power the grid has to distribute would be easier. Adding more wind power to certain areas or reduce which areas need the grid the most or any energy that helps lower the cost.
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Shane Aasnes | April 28, 2009 at 9:00 pm
In the recent months I’ve been seeing more and more public service announcements that have to do with the energy grid system. These commercials have been advocating the renewal and overhaul of the current grid system, just as this article has called for. Until reading this piece I did not really have much of an idea as to what those PSA’s were referring to. The article certainly makes a good case for fixing the grid, as well as laying out the problems.
The political problems and delays they have caused are not easily fixed. The mess before was created essentially by people not being able to personally gain from making a more efficient system. As well as how we as a people were taking it for granted that we’d always have energy to use. The idea of making it profitable to the individual to have a more efficient grid is certainly plausible. Of course later down the line we may just take a new system for granted and end up in the same situation we are now.
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Zeve Salman | April 28, 2009 at 9:04 pm
Does it really shock anyone that the most important infrastructure that we have in our country is probably the most poorly managed one too? And what’s the point of these powerlines if all they are going to do is cut half of the power that we are supposed to be generating. Just seems like a waste.
I suppose fixing these kind of issues can benefit us, but they amount of work and time it would require to fix would probably do more damage then good. I’m not sure how we can use technology to help save our environment, especially since the article says that no amount of technology can help.
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Sarah Kezer | April 28, 2009 at 9:14 pm
I’ve never thought about how old our electric power grid system is. It seems pretty lazy how nobody bothered to take the time and money to upgrade it all. I hope the stimulus package works by putting money towards the grid and creating new jobs.
I’m sure people looked assumed it is ain’t broke, don’t fix it and now we’re really in trouble. Too bad our fossil fuels aren’t as unlimited as everyone thought. Its pretty ridiculous how the own employees of the power company couldn’t figure out how to work the circuts during the power outages. The project in Colorado that lets people monitor their power usage via the web seems like a step in the right direction.
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Rob Cochrane | April 28, 2009 at 9:16 pm
I think it is entirely irresponsible of people ‘in the know’ in this situation to ignore it’s importance for so long. Is it the American way to allow such deterioration to fester until it is on the brink of disaster and THEN try to handle it?
I mean I procrastinate with everything. Hell, look at this article response. But for people in positions of power, with such great responsibilities at hand to overlook the dire need of converting and upgrading parts of ‘the grid’ to maintain it and become more efficient seems beyond my scope. For those who passed the buck, DIAF.
WHOOOO HOOOO LAST ASSIGNMENT DONE
See you Pittard hope you liked my comic lulz.
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Miles Berman | April 28, 2009 at 9:17 pm
this is what the news and the population has been talking about for the better part of two years now. the way we produce energy in this country will be our down fall. It is wasteful and destructive and needs to be fixed. but why fix something that is not “broken?”
the problem is that everyone is two lazy to fix this problem. it works, who cares? our future will care. but i guess that is not important enough.
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Benjamin Bankson | April 28, 2009 at 9:18 pm
Wow, what a mess. I never realize how much of a problem our energy grid was really in. It’s amazing to me how when things are easy, people don’t really think too much about the future and think it’s okay to just cut corners. Learning about how our electric grid has grown and developed over the past century was quite interesting if not a little frustrating at how mangled and completely inefficient it has become. I always thought it was just because we didn’t have enough power plants. I never realized that much energy is lost (4o%) just in transmission! The way our grid is all spliced, diced and jimmy rigged together sounds like a much bigger problem than what many people realize.
One thing I notice is how annoying the government gets when in gets involved. While I agree that there should be incentives and tax breaks and incentives for individuals and corporations who go after more efficient energies, I think the government should keep their regulating hands out of it. I love the fact that the author pointed out how market competition, even though self-serving at times, is actually the driving force behind innovation, not the environmental activists. I like the idea of a smart grid. I think the infrastructure of our electric grid is definitely a very important place to start.
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David Barnes | April 28, 2009 at 9:25 pm
It doesn’t really surprise me that the grid is this bad. I read a news story a few weeks ago about how an enie California city lost power because of one severed power cable. It’s ridiculous, but not surprising. It’s really the result of corporate greed and underspending run amok.
In the end, it’s gonna take a while to fix, no matter who’s in charge or how much money’s being thrown at it. It’s also going to take more than just incentives, it will take laws and regulations. It could realistically take decades, but it’ll be worth it. It’s just one step closer to being more energy-efficient, as well as energy-independent.
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Johanna Vazquez | April 28, 2009 at 9:26 pm
I think that it is awesome that the government is actively seeking a solution for this. I had never realized that the power grid of the United States was such a problem and with the new fad of everyone trying to save energy I think that bringing attention to this cause would be a smart idea. I had never realized that the grid created by Edison Electric Light created such problems or was so faulty.
Hopefully other energy comapnies will follow the example of Duke Energy, Xcel Energy and SmartGridCity. If the government gives the right incentives I think that this could help pull this country out of the recession. If the whole green movement would get behind this I think that the companies would be very interested in doing it and fixing the grid.
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darren d | April 28, 2009 at 9:27 pm
like many americans, i do not know much about our energy/electrical systems and i think this is going to cause a problem in the near future for the united states. with demands for electricity and power expected to jump within the next decade or two, something needs to be done to relieve the extreme dependability on the power grid.
there are so many aspects to consider when thinking of a solution to the power grid problem, which is why it must be addressed now. its not just a matter of coming up with an idea to fix the problems that will arise in the coming years, its devising a system that will provide successful energy supply to future generations. its a shame that the same model has been used since the late 1800s. everything else has been updated since then…why was one the most important things left unchanged?
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Ryan Fitzgerald | April 28, 2009 at 9:27 pm
I really did not realize how bad our power grid was until now. I can’t believe that we’ve allowed it to get as bad as it apparently is. When I read the part in the article saying that a tree not being trimmed in the right spot, could potentially knock out the power grid and I believe it said 1/4 the power in the united states is crazy. Im also amazed by the fact that we are still using pretty much the same system edison put into place all those years ago. It seems that with all the advancements in technology that we would have definitely improved on our power grid.
I am happy that Obama has decided to invest such a large amount of money as a part of his stimulus plan into improving it. I also couldnt believe when it said that energy companies donate less than 2% of their money into research. It makes me wonder where all their money is going, if it isn’t going towards improving their product. I really think it is crazy how apparently out of control we have let this get, and I’m hoping they start to really try to fix it.
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Benjamin Lucas | April 28, 2009 at 9:32 pm
This is fantastic. We need this. Desperately. Everything in this article was spot on. Our country is changing drastically, and the demand for energy is rising, RAPIDLY. I mean think of what new technology is going to sprout up in the next 2 decades that will require many times more energy than what is needed now. (i.e.- Electric Cars) Efficiency must be our number 1 priority at this point. Becuase, like this article states, right now it is NOT. It often disgusts me how wasteful we, as a nation, truly are. We simply can’t continue on the path that we have for so long. In his time, Eddison’s invention was the pinacle, but DEAR GOD come on, we have to evolve.
Thankfully, the President is aware of this large issue at hand is ready to combat it. The article certainly was right though, we have VERY little time to fix this problem. Projects like the one in Colorado are certainly a good start. It is going to take these large energy corporations efforts and immediate actions to make it happen as quickly as possible.
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Richard Saleeby | April 28, 2009 at 9:35 pm
I love how things like this are kept unaware until they grow into a crisis. You know there were models that projected this years ago. I’m glad however that Obama is taking actions to correct this issue now. Our country is possibly the biggest contributor to problems like these. However I feel that hopefully we’ll clean up our act soon enough.
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Scott Truong | April 28, 2009 at 9:39 pm
That is good that the electric people are trying to come up with a way to change our electric output. it should make the world a more efficient place to live in. But i think it isnt really our problem because the world population is going and same with our technology and that mean people lives will be extended to who knows how long. There is got to be away we can do something about it. it is almost like how china has put the law out about the babies and keeping them limited but there really isnt much i believe we can do about. it was a good article to read.
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Anthony Grajirena | April 28, 2009 at 9:43 pm
What a mess! It seems like most aspects of our growing civilization occur before we realize what is happening. The grid was definitely not developed as it is today, it emerged as it is today. It seems that grand schemes are rarely employed and that our systems and infrastructures emerge into their current form along the way. It was both daunting and encouraging to see that the article pointed out that we cannot just make a new grid, but that we will have to redevelop our current grid piece by piece… the same way that it was built. It certainly makes the consumer side of the challenge seem feasible and puts the responsibility on each part of the problem and not the ones who are in charge.
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Amanda Notrika | April 28, 2009 at 9:47 pm
Um, hello! It honestly surprises me that only now are people looking to fix problems like this. I really want them all to ask themselves this one question “How powerful is the sun?”. SOLAR ENERGY! That would solve the problems they are having. Obviously, we would still need electrical outlets and electricity for certain things, but solar power is a lot stronger and efficient than people think.
I don’t think that they need to point the finger at anyone (especially not Edison). It’s our own fault for wasting so much electricity. My roommate, for example, will sleep with the TV and bathroom light/fan on and then leave the house with all her appliances running (hair iron included). That is such a waste of energy. We really need to use solar power. That will definitely solve all this bickering.
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Erinn Scott | April 28, 2009 at 9:51 pm
It seems like the type of thing that needs to be fixed, but there really is no clear way to fix it. We can harp on and on about how we need to change over to another system, but unless there is a clear way to go about it, it’s never going to happen. I never heard about this problem until now, which may or may not be a good thing. Good because the threat of an electric crisis could send the masses into panic mode, but bad because people will continue to take electricity for granted if they do not realize what an issue it is.
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Bjorn Arnesen | April 28, 2009 at 9:52 pm
This article should be a wake up call to everyone who reads this. Today’s electricity needs are no joke in today’s world. Everything on the grid is unnoticed. We live off of electricity, without, everyone, well mostly everyone would not know how to function. The “smart” grid is the way to go. Since the U.S. is going green in every thing we do, why not start with one of the most important parts. People do get lazy, but if you are in charge of the grid and are part of the government that controls what goes on with energy, there is no room for being lazy. Hopefully with this new administration and the help from the citizens of this country, the grid can i guess go green.
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Joshua Garriss | April 28, 2009 at 9:56 pm
This is quite a mess that America has got itself in. There seems to be no absolute way to change the electric grid, but that doesn’t mean that there aren’t ways to do it. I know that although it may not fix the grid, it will definitely lower the amount of electricity that we use and go green at the same time. I’m sure everyone has heard about these suggestions before, but changing incandescent bulbs to fluorescent bulbs. These are great ways to lower energy and costs less for the user, which in these times of economic crisis is not a bad thing either. I appreciate President Obama recognizing that we need to change our ways and investing money into finding a solution.
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Peter Scondras | April 28, 2009 at 10:03 pm
Prior to reading the article i knew very little about our energy grid and honestly didn’t care. But after reading I began understanding why this issue to so important. It seems that the energy grid is out of date that it would be best to build an entirely new one. But thats impossible because there is absolutely no way with over 300 million citizens. So there in-lies the problem: how to you rebuild an energy grid from the 1880s to accommodate the energy use in 2009? The first solution is finding money and the second is finding the right people to give the money to to fix it. If Obama is able to raise 40 billion then the first problem is fixed. But once the money is accumulated, it seems that paying certain companies would harm us more than help us. So as of right now, Americans need to get more involved in ending this unnecessary crisis.
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Chris | April 28, 2009 at 10:04 pm
I knew that we had an energy problem but I didn’t realize it was that serious. I’m not really one that follows with environmental issues but this article really convinces me that pollution and deficiency in energy conservation are serious matters. The article talks about Obama have a solution with a stimulus package and environmental agenda that will help fix the problem at hand. Hopefully that will be enough to help fix the issue.
I think the article is a little out of line for pointing fingers at the past. It’s okay to find the root of the problem, but it’s not helpful to point fingers at Edison or anyone for that matter. Hopefully the government will move ahead with Obama’s ideas. Otherwise, it’ll be a sad and polluted future.
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Cristian Sanchez | April 28, 2009 at 10:07 pm
this is a very interesting article, i had no idea this was happening in the united states. it should be something that we take more seriously. the fact that we are using that much electricity in our world is incredible. we should find way to preserve it, for several reasons. it could help save money for the economy which in turn will allow countries to hekp each other in their financial need or in other ways. it will make the world a healthier place, there are companies that are already working on trying to make thi situation better, and that is a very good thing. Finding ways to change this will better the nation, the environment and the people ass well!
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Kyle Weeks | April 28, 2009 at 10:08 pm
I hadn’t realized that the grid affected the nature of our energy in such a way. IT makes sense that the best way to reduce costs and improve energy consumption is the grid. I particularly like the idea that companies alter their pricing to promote roof-top solar panels, and other renewable sources.
The manner in which we fix the grid appears to have a large toll on how well our children manage their lives. I hope that by then the grid is functioning better, making it easier to supply energy with less fossil fuels and more renewable sources.
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Tiffany Mullin | April 28, 2009 at 10:11 pm
I always knew there was an energy problem taking place but this article really brought it into perspective. I have never really gotten involved in any energy saving program other than turning off my own lights and down the air when I leave, but this article open my eyes to the reality that its time for all of us to get involved.
The article talks about the stimulus plan that Obama has put forth. It is going to be interesting to see how well this works out. Because we are basically having to update an entire energy system for all of the United States. This is a time when America really needs to come together and take this situation seriously because if not we are leaving a world of messes for our future generations to come.
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Michael Kemp | April 28, 2009 at 10:18 pm
It’s pretty scary to know that our power and a huge majority of the countries power could be disabled if just one thing goes wrong. This is definitely something which should be taken care of as soon as possible because who knows what could happen if a majority of the country loses power for a few days or weeks. I can say without a doubt that I had no idea my electricity came from one central hub located in a state far away. It doesn’t seem nearly efficient as it could be.
Obama seems to have the right idea trying to fix up our energy problem, its really hitting two birds with one stone. Stimulating our economy by creating jobs and stabilizing our infrastructure for the future.
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Kevin Baugh | April 28, 2009 at 10:24 pm
This is really the ugly side of capitalism. Sure it’s great for making new tech, but improving on old tech just to make it more efficient seems to get everyone involved going “if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it”. It could limp along, and be pretty bad for everyone, but as long as they turn a profit, then they resist change.
I would say the best thing to do is to have government funded grassroots projects that are protected from big interest, Because any grassroots projects that try to change anything have to come up against sooooooo much opposition it’s ridiculous. The only reason that Silicon Valley worked is because Big Typewriter wasn’t really a problem.
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JILL STRAUSS | April 28, 2009 at 10:30 pm
It seems this grid is very disorganized! There seems to be a lot of greed too! We have the brains to come up with better ways to not use up the fossil fuels. But since they aren’t used up, there isn’t a panic to find a better way of doing things.
We need to make a stand and change our regular habits. Start by reducing the amount of electricity we use. The government should give tax breaks for those who convert to using solar or wind to power their home or heat their water!.
If I’m not mistaken there is a Citizen watch that is powered by the sun or artificial light. The watch saves the energy for up to 6 months in the dark. Never having to change a battery!
170.
Gabriel Vincecruz | April 28, 2009 at 10:31 pm
This article, in my opinion, is one of the best articles that we have had the pleasure of reading. Heck, I might even make myself a daily reader of the wired.com website. The power grid is a major environmental issue, and most Generation Y’ers do care about the environment. Its amazing to me that by explaining how Edison invented the electricity industry, you already know the whole story of power grid. It has evolved that much. The article even mentions that pet food companies put more research into their products than electric companies do!
So yeah, it looks like we have some work to do in America. President Obama has put in place a $40 billion dollar investment into research of new energy and ways to improve current ones. Companies are also making strides to improve their monitoring systems. They are even beginning to find ways that improve efficiency of their systems while also improving their bottom line.
There are many reasons why we take this stuff for granted, but the fact is an overhaul is long overdue. In a world of iPhones, cloud computing, and paper thin HDTVs, there is no reason why it isn’t possible for us to accomplish this.
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Tommy Bottone | April 28, 2009 at 10:36 pm
Man has been generating power for well over a century now and it still comes down to the same basic source. Fuel for transportation is just recently changing, coals and oil are still a major source for electricity. As the demand for electricity grows more power plants will have to be created causing, most likely, more waste. Hopefully with a new president will come a new source of energy, or at least a new way of thinking of how to use it. Because it is bad for business, many companies are not willing to change or upgrade their equipment. This will cause many problems down the road and possibly power shortages. According to the article it doesn’t need to be a complete makeover of the way things are currently done, just slight tweaks to the system. I remember once reading that for a company that was polluting it was more efficient to continue and pay a fine to the government rather than fix and maintain the problem. This is one of those times where it shows that the business of right now is more important than looking in the long run. Sometimes a little government interaction with business is important to fix problems.
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Candice E. Delgado | April 28, 2009 at 10:36 pm
I had NO IDEA how bad the state of our grid was! But at the same time, it doesn’t surprise me. We’re a nation with a history of greedy people and shortcut takers. And many times before, that greed and laziness has gotten us into vast amounts of trouble so I reiterate, no surprise there.
I think things need to change sooner rather than later. But I don’t think these huge utility companies are going to back down any time soon. They’ve got a taste for our money and you know they aren’t going to sway if it means losing one penny into their pocket. I’m glad that President Obama is taking the first step. With influence like his, we can be sure the ball will start rolling. Now it’s on us to aid him by changing up our tech use.
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Jacob Hintz | April 28, 2009 at 10:38 pm
I really have no idea how to solve this energy crisis we are n such a big mess at the moment. I don’t think that the article is necessarily pointing fingers at edison just kinda pointing him out as the originator.I can’t think of much to say that hasn’t already been said however I think it’s important that wee reinvent the grid and not just patch it up. I hope Obama knows whats up because this is a huge problem on top of other huge problems.
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Derek Reese | April 28, 2009 at 10:41 pm
I’ve never had to worry about electrical concerns other than my basic responsibility to help conserve. However, when I get my own house I will definitely be more interested in electrical consumption. I love that google and others are helping to develop better tools to let consumers monitor their usage.
Is the Power Industry such a non-competitive atmosphere that companies can afford to have such ridiculous inefficiencies and still make an acceptable profit? I find this slightly depressing and I hope one day the government will start working on better incentives for contract competition.
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Travis Laurence | April 28, 2009 at 10:41 pm
Ever since the NYC blackout a while back i have heard about issues with our power grid. And with an expected electricty increase of up to 40 percent in the next 20 years this is something that needs to be addressed quickly. I think its good to see that we are putting money towards fixing this problem, however I fear that the project of fixing the grid is something that will always be under construction, and too big to ever fully complete.
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Handel Eugene | April 28, 2009 at 10:48 pm
I didn’t know what energy grid was neither had I even heard of it prior to reading this article but now that it was brought to my attention is kinda scary the fact that I was so unaware of such a huge problem that americas going through, it seems like our energy plan for the future is stuck in the 1800s. It really out of date. Its one of those issues that makes me appreciate obamas role in the white & the decisions that he has to address, because finding a solution to something like this doesn’t happen over night and its far from being a walk in the park, not to mention the amount of money to be spent to begin to even think about solving such a crisis as such.
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Nushik Kostan | April 28, 2009 at 10:51 pm
I didn’t really know how bad this situation was until i read this article. They showed what was happening and how much electricity we’re using and how it’s affecting everthing around us. I liked how they came up with several ideas but i think they should have had more effective and creative ideas. I liked how they tried to get everybody involved to help fix this situation.
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Jared Melman | April 28, 2009 at 10:54 pm
So in this article Edison = bad. Hippie = good. Got it. Ever see Tesla’s idea for what the world’s power grid was going to be? It was large tesla coils all over the earth, transmitting electricity through the air, so anyone could use it. Just but having the device in a connected circuitry, it would work.
Its going to end up costing trillions to move to another source regardless of what anyone says. Hopefully they’ll be a bit more green though.
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James Jones | April 28, 2009 at 10:58 pm
Not a bad read. We once talked about the environment and alternative sources of energy in another class so I’m not new to this concept. However we didn’t go too much into detail on the subject so this felt like a good article to flesh out the issue for me.
The writer does make an interesting point about reform starting at power plants where most are mainly concerned with using new fuels for cars. I must admit that I’m a little surprised that we haven’t begun using a new source of energy when it’s been proven that there are others that work just as well if to better. It does seem strange that all other technology around us is changing but apparently this is the best we can do for electricity.
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Ashley Kellyman | April 28, 2009 at 10:59 pm
I was not so aware of the current state of our electric grid. And, shamefully so, it was an issue that wasn’t even at the back of my mind, which goes to show that I, and probably many others, take electricity for granted. Had it not been for the article I would never know because as long as I can access electricity there is no problem. But that’s absolutely wrong. It is a good thing this article was brought to my attention. As dependent as I am, I should have been more concerned.
It is unfortunate that we need incentives to facilitate changes. Still, this method works best and if implementing decoupling in the 1980’s could be such a big hit, then I’m sure that using this knowledge about the power of incentives could really benefit and even accelerate plans for a more efficient grid.
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Christina Weinman | April 28, 2009 at 10:59 pm
This article was strange to read. I never realized that such an aged system drives our every-day energy resources. After the explanation of the energy companies’ lack of incentive to do anything about it, however, it did make a lot of sense.
On the subject of technology, though, it was made pretty clear in the argument what it can do for the environment. The current grid system is leaky, and not much can be done about it. If the materials were improved, and instruments installed that detected any environmental hazard, our ability to monitor and control the grids would increase dramatically.