The Grid May Be Smart, But Will It Also Be Green?

by Richard Harris

The push is on to make the nation's aging electricity grid smarter, so it can handle growing demand for electricity without allures. Many assume that a smart grid will also be a green grid — delivering clean electricity and helping to address climate change. But that's not necessarily so.

Giving the grid a brain doesn't necessarily mean it will make green decisions. Likewise, the big push to expand the electric grid into areas rich in renewable energy doesn't guarantee that the new, improved grid will be more climate-friendly.

Smart grid technology means several kinds of innovations. One is that both customers and utilities will be able to monitor electric use, minute by minute. Steve Nadel, who runs a nonprofit called the American Council for an Energy Efficient Economy, says that information alone doesn't make the smart grid green.

"As a friend of mine says, a smart grid needs smart programs need smart rates," Nadel says.

Smart programs could, for example, help people see how they're using electricity so they can find painless ways to conserve. And smart rates could create incentives for people to save electricity, by charging more at some times and less at others. In principle, cheaper energy should encourage environmentally friendly objectives. But Nadel says not all smart-grid experiments make green sense.

"Some utilities have programs to encourage nighttime lighting," Nadel says. "Gee, make your house look beautiful. Make it more secure. Light up like Times Square or something. That's an example. And don't worry, it's only 2 cents a kilowatt-hour. We'll give you a special nighttime discount."

In some cases, people not only use more energy, but dirtier energy, too. That's because in some parts of the country, nighttime electricity often comes from coal-fired power plants. They're usually the cheapest source, so they get used first. When demand is higher during the day, the additional electricity is more likely to come from cleaner natural gas. So in parts of the country that rely heavily on coal power, nighttime energy means dirtier energy.

Nadel says the good news is that smart-grid pilot programs so far have largely encouraged conservation.

"Some of them have saved quite a bit of energy," he says. "Some have built some load. The devil is always in the details." Read full article>