You’ve probably heard a little (or maybe more) about the “Smart Grid” — a general term for various methods of making our energy distribution systems more adaptive and flexible, thereby conserving energy through reduced waste and more efficient consumption patterns.
What you might not have heard is the critical role FM radio broadcasting may soon play in this space.
Let’s start with an overview.
Our current power distribution system is essentially a one-way environment — it is designed to deliver power from source to load, and does so in a fairly effective and reliable manner.
But this distribution could be much more efficient and even more reliable if it had an integrated, two-way “backchannel” for monitoring and controlling the distribution in a more adaptive and granular manner.
The Smart Grid adds just such a mechanism through the addition of multiple return and control paths layered atop the existing power-distribution network.
This is not an entirely new idea; electric utilities have had it in mind almost since their beginnings, but its broad application has been elusive.
Today’s technology and generally heightened awareness of the need for such energy efficiencies may finally bring the concept to fruition, however, and the Smart Grid is the culmination of that process worldwide.
via Radio’s Part in the ‘Smart Grid’, by Skip Pizzi.
Related posts:
