Among the many claims made for the "economic stimulus" package now before Congress is that it will "jump-start" a "bigger, better, smarter" electric grid, enabling Americans to use energy more efficiently. The package commits $4.5 billion to this, to help finance 3,000 miles of transmission lines and 40 million "smart meters." Sounds great, however, $4.5 billion is a pittance. An industry study in 2004 — surely outdated — put the price tag of modernizing the grid at $165 billion. More important, the "smart grid" isn't mainly a matter of building new transmission lines or installing new meters.
While a great idea, it's basically a software project," says economist Marc Levinson of J.P. Morgan. "The reason utilities aren't pushing it faster is not lack of money or will, but because there are lots of technical issues and also important compatibility problems so that the various companies' grids can communicate freely with one another."
Source: Robert J. Samuelson in Newsweek.
No comments:
Post a Comment