Nearly nine months after being filed in the Illinois Senate, the Energy Infrastructure Modernization Act is on the books. This legislation, commonly referred to as the “smart grid bill”, will fund the modernization of Illinois’ electric grid and change regulations that allow ComEd and Ameren to seek annual rate hikes. The utilities claim higher rates Continue reading →
legislation
Commonwealth Edison and Ameren Illinois took the hint. The utilities got hammered in Springfield after they proposed a plan to finance improvements in their electricity grids. They have agreed to revise the controversial legislation in a way that does more to protect consumers, but they’re still getting a chilly reception. Their latest measure is substantially Continue reading →
State lawmakers want to push forward legislation that would increase consumers’ electricity bills, even though Gov. Pat Quinn and the state attorney general refuse to support the Smart Grid legislation. Attorney General Lisa Madigan released a statement this week, saying her office “walked away” from negotiations with Ameren Illinois and Commonwealth Edison LLC over legislation Continue reading →
IEEE, the world's largest professional association for the advancement of technology, today announced that John McDonald, IEEE Fellow and Director of Technical Strategy and Policy Development for GE’s Digital Energy business; gave testimony on the progress of standards for Smart Grid interoperability and cyber security before the U.S. House of Representatives’ Subcommittee on Technology and Continue reading →
Is the power grid safe? And even more challenging, if the Smart Grid rolls out as everybody expects, will it continue to be safe? On Capitol Hill, the House has approved (and sent to the Senate) HR-5026. The measure would beef up federal efforts to protect the nation’s electrical grid from possible cyber attacks. via Continue reading →
The House Energy and Commerce Committee unanimously approved a bill Thursday that seeks to address security vulnerabilities in the nation’s energy grid. The legislation, which now heads to the House floor, would charge the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) with the responsibility of identifying and addressing weaknesses in the country’s energy delivery system. via House Continue reading →
Among the flurry of bills signed by Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger this month was Senate Bill 17 by Senator Alex Padilla (D-Pacoima). Co-authored by Senator Patricia Wiggins (D — Santa Rosa), SB 17 will advance California’s clean energy policies by improving reliability and efficiency in power distribution through the deployment of smart grid technology. Padilla said Continue reading →
A statement from the Committee on Climate Change, an independent body that advises British government on the ongoing reduction of carbon emissions, has declared that a 50 percent reduction must occur by 2020 if the 80 percent reduction goal is to be met by 2050. The group made its findings known within its annual report Continue reading →
Consumer-friendly devices used to monitor home energy consumption are only starting to gain traction. In the U.S., companies like Tendril (shown below), Greenbox and EnergyHub have pioneered systems that allow homeowners to easily view how much energy they are using and how much it is costing them. Even larger companies like Google, Microsoft, and Intel Continue reading →
Some projects are just too big to let the private sector handle them alone. Updating our aging one-way system of centralized power production to a smart grid is one of those projects. Left mostly to its own initiative, the energy industry has done very little in technology innovation during the past fifty years to make Continue reading →
A rough rule of thumb is that energy efficiency requires investment upfront (investment isn’t only cash, but also thinking) for lower costs into the future. Thus, energy efficiency is a central arena where thinking “cost to buy” often conflicts with more sensible thinking about “cost to own” (CtB v CtO). And, when it comes to Continue reading →
Efficient smart grid architecture reduces the cost of energy for consumers and also reduces greenhouse gas emissions. Smart grid architecture enables the delivery of electricity from supplier to consumer through digital technology. The U.S. and foreign governments are working towards developing a more modern and efficient electricity network to promote energy independence and reduce global Continue reading →
ON A RECENT congressional delegation to Hong Kong, I toured a factory that is developing a thin solar cell that can be put on windows to generate electricity from the sun with zero carbon emissions. I thought of 1366 Technologies, a company in Lexington that is also racing to get advanced solar technologies to market. Continue reading →
