The smart grid: “1,000 times bigger than the Internet”?
By Save Eumundi Team • Jun 18th, 2009 • Category: NewsInvestors and companies are pouring money into smart grid hardware and software. Companies vying to become industry leaders aren’t short on hype.
Cisco Systems calls the smart grid “1,000 times bigger than the Internet.” GE calls it “the biggest investment of the first half of the 21st century.” The Green Chip Review pushes its own reports about the small companies that are getting into the game.
Hype aside, the smart grid will help create realtime electricity markets where consumers can monitor their appliances’ energy consumption as well as electricity prices that change by the minute, depending on demand. Consumers will learn fast how to conserve energy with wiser appliance choices and how to save money by using power at off-peak periods. Costs will drop for utilities that won’t need expensive back-up plants.
According to one smart-grid start-up, investors’ interest is a sharp change from a few years ago, when venture firms laughed at them.
Source: World Business Academy – Currents in Commerce (June 18, 2009)
Save Eumundi Team is a group of people who are keen to see our environment protected and insisting that the Queensland State Government and its agencies (like Powerlink) consider viable alternatives rather than the business as usual approach to electricity generation and transmission.
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