New Year's Resolutions Abound

It's that time of year --- to look back, to look forward ---- to do the hokey pokey and, if you've been bad (like having one too many cookies after dinner), to turn yourself around. It's only a few days after Christmas and my exhaustion has already transferred from a weariness of Christmas specials to a weariness of "2009 in review" shows.

The American Wind Energy Association (AWEA) got in on the act today by issuing a release that looks forward at 2010. They discuss a number of exciting options, including the possibility that 2010 will have wind energy being #2 in new generating capacity for the sixth year in a row. For a complete look at the release, click here.

While AWEA is hoping for renewable jobs folded into legislation and more powerful wind turbines, it's more likely that 2010, like 2009, will be the year of the smart grid, with renewables being a happy tangential rather than a real focus. The one potential difference between the smart grid of 2009 and the smart grid of 2010 is probably similar to those Christmas gifts we all received last week: The excitement of the gift's potential wanes with the hassle of piecing it together and making sure it works with our Wi, iPod, iPhone, Mac, Playstation 8,000, etc.

Smart grid 2010 will have the sophomore slump, so to speak. While the freshman enthusiasm may still simmer under the surface, the reality of all those components that need to fit together will, inevitably, put a bit of a dip in the thrill.

As we start to move from unbridled "yes, let's do it" to tempered "oh goodness, what have we gotten ourselves into?" we need to remember that this, too, shall pass. We'll figure out the gadgets and gizmos and issues and, in the end, that enthusiasm will return and this time of concern will be just a blip on the chronological radar. As we approach this time of balance and contemplation, however, it's all the more important to share information, take in a conference or two (like DistribuTECH or POWERGRID Europe) and buckle down for a less-exciting, but more fulfilling year of putting some meat on the smart grid bone structure.

My prediction for the smart grid in 2010 is more walk and less talk. Significant strides will be accomplished.

The Year of Energy Efficiency

In the holiday classic, "The Year Without a Santa Claus," Santa has a nasty cold and decides to take Christmas off. Today, it seems Florida utility FPL would be more than willing to step into Santa's vacant shoes with their press release on suggested energy efficiency "presents." Even without a Santa Claus, the gifts will abound, it appears.

FPL says to stock up the holidays with energy-star labeled products, solar-powered technology, LED televisions, surge strips and rechargeable batteries, compact fluorescents and low-flow showerheads, and "human-powered" products like shake flashlights and wind-up radios.

I think they are stretching for that last one as far as an energy efficient gift goes, but they're in Florida. Those are practical items in a hurricane. We'll just let it slide.

Even before FPL's holly-jolly-low-flow Christmas tidings, energy efficiency seemed the topic on everyone's lips. Autovation was largely about energy efficiency, from LEDs to energy management systems. Gridweek even covered efficiency more heavily than usual. There were articles on it, blogs on it, conferences around it, conferences adapted to it (just see the line-up for CES 2010 to get an eye for how even consumer conferences are changing to push the idea).

And there is practicality in efficiency. It doesn't require anyone to build more plants, add more power. It's about getting more from what you have on hand. But, as anyone surviving the recession understands, sometimes squeezing more from less creates a certain law of diminishing returns.

I'm interested in the marketing around energy efficiency, really. Granted, products like energy displays, etc., can build on the foundation of saving while promoting a certain amount of spending, but that can only reach so far before we start to figure out that we're forking out a lot of cash to slice tiny nickels and dimes off our energy bills. I often wonder: Where's the tipping point? At what spot in the process will the average consumer say, "Nah. This is just silly."

I know where my tipping point is: Despite the encouragement of FPL, anyone who buys me a low-flow showerhead for Christmas will get a lump of coal in return. A girl with lots o' hair cannot possibly get shampoo out of it with the trickle-and-spit low-flow method. So, Santa ... or FPL ... please, nothing low-flow for me. If that makes me bad, so be it. Put me on the energy efficiency naughty list. I can take it.

NRC to PHEVs: You're Too Expensive

Yesterday, the National Research Council (NRC) released a report on the costs of plug-in hybrids that seems to confirm basic logic: Consumers won't see a return on their initial investment for decades. It could be 2030 before it's actually a good buy to plunk down cash for a hybrid.

According to the NRC report, "costs to manufacture plug-in hybrid electric vehicles in 2010 are estimated to be as much as $18,000 more than for an equivalent conventional vehicle." Since my last car cost less than $18,000 altogether, that seems like a big ol' mountain for the hybrid industry to climb before the average consumer like me thinks: Oh boy, I get to save money AND save the environment. I'll definitely buy one.

This reminds me of the time I looked into putting solar cells on my house. When I figured in the cost of the panels, the conversion of the electric wiring, the specialty meter, etc., the figure topped out at over $20,000. Since my average power bill in the summer is $60 and in the winter is $30, it would be nearly 30 years until those solar cells started paying for themselves. And they only had a shelf life of a decade. After that, I would be tush-over-teakettle, building up debt to replace panels every 10 years---like those people who trade in cars every six months and then wonder why they can no longer afford to eat. It just wasn't a feasible, practical option.

Now, some of the same adjustments to home electric wiring required for me to prop up those solar panels would also be required for PHEVs, adding as much as a grand on top of the 18K for the vehicle.

Apparently, it takes a lot of money to save the world. And, while I wish to save the world, don't get me wrong, I'm more concerned about not ending up tush-over-teakettle. I don't like debt. I certainly don't want to be swimming in it, personally, in order to transfer part of my carbon footprint from my little Kia Sportage to my local electric company.

I remember an old friend who was all gung-ho for PHEVs. He was ready to pay heavy for saving the world. He was pumped and prepped to trade in his Ford and get on the green bandwagon, though he still lived in a huge, three-car-garage/five-bedroom house 65+ miles from his workplace. As he talked to me about the positives of PHEVs, all I could think about were the costs he would be ringing up when he could buy a smaller house closer to his work and make a much larger contribution to bettering the environment. But, buying the car was actually easier, for him anyway.

For most of us, though, buying a PHEV is difficult. I love the environment, and I hope we can all do our part to make it greener. But, I prefer the more practical---and infinitely easier for me---concepts of smaller footprints through smaller living, cold-water washing, using less paper products, living 3 miles from work (although I do still drive, I admit that).

While PHEVs may offer hope that we can slice our larger, national population's carbon footprint, it seems the first hurdle is still the most prominent: making it affordable for the individual average consumer who cannot see an extra 20K fly out of their pocketbook for the environment. I would love to see this technology become affordable and accessible. But, until it does, I don't see very many of us clamoring to go green through our garages.

For more information on PHEVs, click through to our PHEV topic page here.

Boeing Loves Smart Grid

It's been industry gossip for months: Just what is Boeing doing? How will the company be involved in the smart grid? What are they up to, exactly? We've heard about their involvement, read blogs about it and been utterly enthralled with the very idea of it---a new suitor for an old maid.

Why is it all so enthralling? Because it's just not done. Because no one knocks on the door of power distribution from outside the industry. Maybe it's the high tech factor; maybe it's the old fogey factor. It could be a mixture of both. We may smell like a combo of copper wiring and Bengay.

There's a lot of buzz about smart grid inside the industry of course. Generation players suddenly want to be grid players. The transmission end of things wants to push past distribution and into a consumer's home. Yet, even with all the interior movement, it is still rare for a company outside the power industry to say, "Now, the grid. That's the next big thang. That's where stuff is moving and shaking. I've got to be a part of that."

Yet, that seems to be just what's happening with major aerospace and defense mega-giant Boeing.

In late November, Boeing was selected to receive federal stimulus funds with some work on smart grid platforms here in the U.S., a move that served double-duty as a public announcement that the company is looking seriously at the grid side of power. Boeing received an $8.5 million grant to lead one project team and is involved with two other projects (with Consolidated Edison and Southern California Edison).

Last Friday evening, POWERGRID International magazine spoke with Tim Noonan, vice president of Boeing Advanced Global Services and Support about the company's history, its view on grid security and Boeing's vision of that smart grid horizon. You can read that interview in full in our upcoming January issue news section. Until that magazine hits the stands though, here's the Twitter, 140-character-or-less summary: Boeing loves the smart grid like tourists once loved New York. They're investing. Heavily. (90 characters, spaces included.)

Stay tuned.

Belated Thanksgiving Thoughts

My favorite Thanksgiving tradition is the process of actually giving thanks---saying out loud (or putting into writing) all those positive, affirming ideas that, most of the time, we mentally dismiss as too cheesy to actually vocalize. Thanksgiving is the one day each year where cheesy is forgiven, in my book. On this one single November holiday, you're allowed to be your own personal Pollyanna. You can thank your parents for having you, your brother for not killing you that time you stole his most prized G.I. Joe, your boss for not holding it against you that you're not the most photogenic person to do video interviews, your friends for willingly braving zombie movies with you.

I already gave those personal thanks last week, but I just realized today that there are thanks to be given within our industry as well. So, here and now, I propose the ten smart grid items to be thankful for this year.

10. Improved technology. We really haven't done much in a couple of generations with our industry gadgets. The one thing the smart grid has kick-started is tech features---from more efficient switchgear to VAR compensators to in-home displays.

9. More research. All this smart grid chatter has loosened coffers for research and development where once you opened the R&D wallet and moths flew out, dust kicked up, and there was no money to be had.

8. More chatter. Speaking of chatter, there is a lot of it. Even my mother knows about the smart grid, perhaps not to an industry level. But, I'm amazed she knows anything at all. It can't all be from me. It must come from an outside source.

7. Media blitzing. A favorite outside source of all mothers is the media. In this case, I'm referring to tech and insider magazines. Traditionally, the heavy words of the power industry were often reserved for the generation side. These days, however, the grid is the word. Even our generation sister magazines in-house are talking smart grid.

6. Mainstream media blitzing. OK. My mother didn't get her info from an industry magazine or from me. She probably got it from Charles Gibson. She loves her some Charlie. But, isn't it amazing that Charlie is talking about the smart grid?

5. President Obama. Let's face it: Obama's focus on renewables and efficiency has certainly helped the smart grid cause. And the cash didn't hurt, either.

4. More money. Not just from Obama, but also from investors who now see a future in an industry once thought of as about as progressive as aglets (the plastic ends of shoelaces that haven't changed form in more years than my grandmother's been alive).

3. Less money. We have to take a moment, though, to realize that this influx of cash is, at least partially, due to many, many years of no cash. There would be no current boom without the previous bust.

2. The art of selling. We took an industry with a lot of different acronyms and names and words and hard to follow concepts, and we've finally done the brilliant act of marketing: We've dumbed it down. And, yes, that's a good thing. After all, you can't understand Calculus without a concept of simple addition. For years, we've tried to sell the consumer Calculus. And, they've been thoroughly puzzled. And we've been puzzled about why they were so uninterested. Simplicity is key. We should have listened to Thoreau years ago. (He kept telling us to simplify.)

1. The perfect name. In the end, perhaps we should give all of this credit to the ultimate simplification: an easy-to-understand, easy-to-market name. Names have made a lot of people and a lot of products appear so much better. (John Wayne was born Marion Mitchell Morrison, and thank goodness he changed that, for example.) That simple name, "the smart grid," may, in the end, be responsible for rescuing this industry from obscurity, just as Wayne's name change may well have cemented his place as a film icon. After all, how many male movie stars called Marion can you name?

Consumer-driven Smart Grid

I just returned from Amsterdam, and, during the trip, I got a tour of the city's Climate Street project. In a small shopping area in central Amsterdam, the community is coming together to change their carbon footprint, and a lot of the technology in play we would attribute to the smart grid: smart meters, energy management displays, etc. They've added in some solar tram stops and solar trash cans (and an interesting reverse osmosis water feature that can be used to wash those tram stops and trash cans). But, in the end, the heart of Climate Street is good distribution.

But, what fascinated me the most about Climate Street wasn't the technology or even the massive coordination effort by the city (and the local grid operator Alliander). What fascinated me the most was the impetus, the jumping off point for this project. Climate Street started with the shopkeepers. They came together and pushed for this concept, and they got it. Climate Street was a grassroots idea.

Honestly, I really can't imagine shopkeepers in the U.S. banding together to willingly pay for changing their power structure and intake. I can see U.S. shopkeepers asking about financial benefits for programs already put in place by the utility that they didn't have to much think about or fuss with, but I just can't imagine my local Reasor's and Wal-green's putting their heads together to try and do their part to green central Tulsa.

But, perhaps I'm jaded. Perhaps I'm underestimating the American commitment.

But, back to Holland. While we were getting a Climate Street overview outside in the biting Dutch wind, a shopkeeper wheeling in wine for his dinner rush invited us into his coffee shop to view some of the features he had in place for the project, including a plug and software that reads and helps diagnose energy use. He told us that, in fact, the program has convinced him to turn off the registers and the coffee machine at night, since they were pulling so much power.

He seemed very proud of this program and very happy with its progress, even though his shop and the street were marred by serious construction issues associated with removing and replacing the connections and cables.

It made me wonder how much my local Reasor's and Wal-green's really could save if they were willing to put their heads together with Oklahoma Gas and Electric and copy the Climate Street plan.

With a two-fold plan to save money and save the world, it seems like a win-win situation, doesn't it---well worth a little thought and a bit of construction dust? If they can do it, why not us?

European Conference Abstracts Reveal a Small World

This week I'm preparing to travel to Amsterdam for the conference committee meeting for POWERGRID Europe. This preparation process requires all the traditional travel elements---the buying of mini shampoo bottles, the reading of baggie boxes to see if they're quart-sized, the finding of the passport because you just can't remember what "safe" place you hid it in last time---but the preparation for this particular trip also requires a large non-traditional element: Namely, I have to read through a million paper abstracts.

Okay, not a million. That's an exaggeration. Still, a lot.

For those of you not familiar with the industry's conference process, here's the short, summed-up version: Utilities and vendors, engineers and students submit short summaries of the papers they'd like to present and a committee of experts then wades through all those submissions and someone says "Hey, this guy's paper fits with this guy's paper" and, through this process, we build ourselves a conference.

So, this week, I'm reading through paper abstracts for POWERGRID Europe so that next week, in Amsterdam, I'll know what we're talking about when Richard from Areva T&D or Heiko from Siemens or Marco from UTInnovation pipes up with "Hey, this guy's paper fits with this guy's paper."

What I've found through this reading process is that we're all dealing with the same stuff. Or, as the Disney ride puts it: It's a small world after all.

The largest popular topics: the smart grid and renewables. The largest popular headaches: How do we get the smart grid to work just right and how do we plug in those pesky renewables, exactly?

It reminds me of the time I ran into an old friend (who works in the industry) out of the blue in a line at Heathrow airport. I'd come in from Tulsa and was heading to Milan. He'd come in from Canada and was headed to Moscow. What were the odds we'd meet each other at Heathrow?

But, we do work in the same industry, and, while we weren't headed to the same conference, we were both headed to conferences. And, with those two similarities, patterns start to establish. This pattern led us to bump into each other at an airport hub.

Patterns establish themselves in our industry, too---whether the technology is popping up in New Hampshire, the Netherlands or New Delhi. The question remains, though: What do these patterns really tell us?

Right now, I don't know. Perhaps I will have more answers when I come back from Amsterdam and know which guy's paper fits perfectly with which other guy's paper. Perhaps then the patterns will reveal a clear message, and I'll be able to tell the industry's fortune and its future.

All the President's Money

Today, President Obama---in a nice photo op at Florida Power & Light's DeSoto Next Generation Solar Energy Center---announced a whole bucket of cash for the grid. Now, was I the only person that thought, "Shouldn't he be at a substation or under some power lines or something?" While I get that he's big on the renewables, his choice of proper placement for this announcement isn't exactly grid-specific. It seems a little off-topic.

He's forking over $3.4 billion of my tax money (which will be matched by $8 billion in industry funds) for grid upgrades. So, I guess I shouldn't be picky. But, it still irks me a tad. Despite all the shiny talk about smart, intelligent grids, despite the chatter about grid evolution and grid 2.0, grids are still ... well, they're just not very sexy, now are they?

Renewables are sexy. Solar panels and wind turbines and great sweeping landscape shots. Renewables are going save the world. And, saving the world is sexy.

But, figuring out how the wires, components and interconnections to make that world-saving happen---not so sexy. Think of it like your flat screen TV. Flat screens are the ultimate in tech sexy. But, when you open the manual and try to figure out how to plug in your DVR and your DVD player and all the other dangling components---well, then that flat screen loses a bit of the zing it had before.

My parents have never fully figured out their flat screen. They still have to crawl behind it to unplug the Direct TV and plug in the DVD player when they want to watch a movie. And they gripe about it. But, it works.

Unfortunately, we can't just unplug a power plant and plug in a wind turbine. All our cables in this industry aren't quite so "plug and play" as those connecting our home electronics. So, despite the lack of visible sexiness in those big wire bundles, we need to look at them more often. We need to recognize the beauty---and, yes, the sexiness---in them.

Like inner beauty, it's an inner sexiness. I get that. It's based on the world-saving, flat-screen-powering zip that those wires will bring us rather than the wires themselves. But, inner sexiness is a good thing.

My parents never could teach me the system for unplugging the satellite TV and plugging in the DVD player at their house. But, they did teach me about inner beauty and its importance. (I still refuse to wear high heels based on both principle and a bad knee. So, they taught me well.) And, I'm sure a lot of other parents did the same.

So, while I recognize that the lovely lines and slick surface image of renewables will always make for a nice picture, I can't help but someday hope that President Obama or Secretary Chu will pop up at a substation or under a pole transformer or beside some shiny switchgear where he will pose like Vanna White, give a little flourish of a wave toward the technology and earnestly believe in the beauty and sexiness of that equipment---not just in its utilitarian necessity.

Will the Smart Grid Watch You?

"Big Brother is Watching You" is the famous line from Eric Arthur Blair's "1984." (Blair is better known by his pen name, George Orwell, a moniker he enjoyed hiding behind.) I'm sure, when Blair wrote that book, he never realized it would take on such a life of its own.

When I attended ICUEE in Louisville last week, one of the guys in the booth next to me started to quiz me about the smart grid, how he had heard it would let the electric companies control all his power. He was afraid of that, and he tossed out the Orwell line when we discussed the smart grid.

This Big Brother phenomenon started popping up recently in blogs and discussion groups---whether the smart grid will allow people to know your business and pass it along to government authorities. Bob Sullivan, an MSNBC blogger with a spot called "The Red Tape Chronicles" wrote: "Utility companies, by gathering hundreds of billions of data points about us, could reconstruct much of our daily lives."

My honest reaction to all of this Big Brother fear mongering: So what?

Really, what's new about companies knowing everything about us? In this digital society, our business is everybody's business.

Your GPS in your car knows where you've been and where you're going. That information is recorded, and, sometimes, sent back to a "home base" customer service bank in case you call in and they need to locate you or related information.

Your cable TV system/DVR knows what you watch. The cookies on your computer know what you surf on the Internet and transmit that info to companies like Google every time you open that Web browser.

Your debit card records every single item you buy. Your cell phone notes every single number you dial (and where you are). You trust companies to pull regular payments straight from your bank account electronically.

And, if you shop online, you get that information reprocessed for marketing constantly. For example, I added a new high-end face wash product to my Amazon wish list a month ago and am now inundated with e-mails about how I can get that product free if I buy a certain amount of another product.

Face it, we are not put upon by the all powerful; we are not forced to hand over information. In fact, we offer it up. We contribute to "the man" knowing things about our daily lives whenever we are awake, basically. By choice, even. Most of the time, we ignore the potential dangers of this because these are technologies we trust with perks we enjoy (like GPS pinpointing on your cell if your car breaks down or, perhaps, something as innocuous as a coupon direct-marketed to us on our grocery receipt for something we regularly buy).

The smart grid will have significantly less power in your daily life than your debit card or your cell phone as far as personal information is concerned, yet we fear it. Perhaps it is because we've grown used to the debit card and the cell phone and the GPS. I imagine these items all created the same scary thoughts when they surfaced, but we've discovered that our fears were unfounded.

The same will be true with an intelligent electric network. So, to chase away the dark dreams that might be haunting you this Halloween, remember: Your utility will only care about the data that impacts their business, as is the way with any company. No one there will give a rat's patootie if you've got more Christmas lights than your neighbor or if you turn on all your appliances at the same time to create a musical, mechanical choir---just for the fun of it. They only care about the big numbers and the bottom line and how your data feeds into that. Period.

I promise you: We are not Winston Smith, and your power company is not Big Brother. There is no smart grid boogie man.

War on Westar

It's getting chilly here in Tulsa. Normally, in the fall, it's about 77. Today, it will not top 50. I broke out the turtleneck super early. The same weather issue can be said for a bit farther to the north in the great state of Kansas where I grew up. It's been an equally fall-like fall up that way, which prompted an annual conversation with a Topeka-based friend about when to turn on the heat. She told me that she's not turning it on until November, come hell or high water.

"Is it that time of year again?" I asked. "Time for the annual war against Westar?"

You see, a few years ago, my friend had a number of high winter electric bills, due to varying reasons, depending on whether you ask her or ask the energy company. At about the same time, Westar was getting hammered in the news. (Around 2006, Westar CEO David Wittig was sentenced to nearly 20 years for "looting" from the utility; his executive vice president got 15 years. It all centered around inflated pay and benefits that came to light after Wittig left Westar in 2002.)

Now, my friend says, given her lack of a criminal record and Westar's employment of multiple convincted criminals, that her word should be the one believed. But, no matter who is right in the dispute, the final result is: She's holding a grudge.

Every year, she puts off the heat. She layers sweaters and socks. She and her new husband get into a war over the thermostat. (He gets cold, and he hasn't got a personal grudge against Westar. So, he's more willing to turn up the heat.)

In the end, my friend was so angry that she still "fights" the war with Westar with her money---or lack of money---for their services. But, since there are no real options for other electric utilities in her area, that means she freezes. And she's still so angry, years after the fact, that she's more than willing to freeze herself, her tootsies ... and her new hubby ... for those convictions she felt were violated all those years ago.

I'm reminded of this because yesterday a sister magazine here at PennWell specializing in generation, Power Engineering magazine, just named Westar's new Emporia Energy Center as a finalist for their "project of the year" awards.

“Emporia Energy Center has been a great addition to Westar’s fleet of generating plants and an essential component of our Comprehensive Energy Plan,” said Bill Moore, president and chief executive officer when notified of the nomination. “Along with our three wind farms, energy efficiency programs and our high-performing coal, nuclear and other natural gas plants, our Emporia Energy Center is helping Westar meet customer demand at low cost and with a high degree of reliability.”

I sent the note along to my friend still entrenched in her Westar war. Her official response was to blow a raspberry.

It appears that no amount of industry kudos is going to override her personal issues with Westar.

And the battle rages on.

LIVE from ICUEE: What Smart Grid?

I was sent to the ICUEE show for another magazine (UTILITY PRODUCTS), not POWERGRID International. However, I have been positively amazed that what is the happening, hot topic at grid shows is getting little-to-no attention here in Kentucky.

It's as if the smart grid means nothing.

Perhaps, to these people, it does. ICUEE is a show that specializes in equipment: bucket trucks, construction products, switchgear, cabling. It usually pulls in around 15,000 people every two years. (Current numbers seem to be topping that, according to the show management.) And, when I got to the show yesterday morning, there was, indeed, a registration line that snaked through the lobby. A very popular little event.

Scratch that: A very popular BIG event.

But, an event with exactly one smart gird session, a 3:30 pm on Tuesday track titled "Getting Smart About the Smart Grid." It had a slew of good people from EnerNex, the GridWise Alliance, Duke Energy, GE, CISCO, the NRECA (National Rural Electric Co-op Association). It was, hands-down, the most well-rounded session on the ICUEE agenda. (Most other sessions were product-oriented or had a single speaker.)

Earlier in the day, I had attended a fleet management session with 53 people. So, I got to the smart grid one early to stake out a seat. But, how many showed up for this wave of the grid future? 18.

Wow. Maybe we need to push some of that smart grid stimulus money toward advertising. If last year is an indication, there were almost 15,000 people around and about at that show and the smart grid could only bring 18 into the room.

I admit it. I was floored. As someone who has lived and breathed the smart grid since Austin Energy's CIO coined the term in 2007, I couldn't believe this lack of interest from the very people we'll be counting on to support the grid. Perhaps that's the rub, though. They're not stakeholders in the process. They're not building the smart grid itself, per se. Instead, they're in charge of fixing cable or testing switchgear---examining and repairing the infrastructure backbone of the newly forming smart grid.

My question remains, though: Is it important that every level of a utility be excited about smart grid? Do we need even the bucket truck operators and the linemen to be vocal voices for a better, more intelligent grid? Are we missing a big piece of the picture by not getting everyone from the CEO the vegetation management chemical sprayer involved in promoting and believing in the smart grid?

Is the Smart Grid IQ of the Average Consumer Important?

I'm rather sick of the consumer. The consumer is everywhere, in everything. I've been horribly overexposed to this new industry icon. He pops up at every conference I attend, from CIRED in Prague to Autovation in Denver. He's all over press releases, including the one today (9-21) from GE touting a shiny new Website just for him. The consumer has fingers in all smart grid pies, is as visible as Britney Spears making yet another pop comeback.

We talk a lot about this consumer of the future, the one who is going to change the world. But, with today's consumer, there's yet another problem. Apparently, he's just not very bright, despite his popularity. He seems to be rather a dim bulb, to borrow a phrase/industry pun. He may be everywhere, but, as of yet, he's learned nothing at all.

Think about it. What does every utility, every administrator, every smart grid expert and every vendor want to provide to the consumer? An education.

Nearly a hundred years after electrification, the consumer still can't pass the test. He needs more information; he needs new ways to process that information: smart meters, smart thermostats, energy management systems, in-home energy displays. If a trip to any recent power conference is any indication, we're going to solve this dumb consumer issue in one fell swoop, the way Billy Mays could once give you a product to clean any surface, no matter what the stain or taint.

Of course, the taint here is a tad different shade, a bit of a different color. Because, until the smart grid came along and promises of stimulus money and demand response options hit the table, this industry didn't much care about the knowledge level of its consumer. It's not that the consumer wasn't always important to the equation; if you make power, someone needs to have a use for that power. That's a given. But, considering the consumer as an active, informed part of the equation with options to impact and change a utility's plan is new.

So now, as an industry, we're suddenly excited about educating. We're thrilled to be providing all the information that a consumer needs to participate in demand response programs and be a team player. Go team power.

There is a hitch, though. There remains a little snag in this industry-woven tapestry of the smart grid informed consumer of the future destined to save the world. One uncomfortable fact looms during all those educational sessions and talks and examinations, like an invisible little sword of Damocles.

What is that uncomfortable fact? Well, it's just basic human nature. Namely, just because we know things doesn't mean we act on them. Here's a good example. I'm fully aware that dragging my lazy self off the couch and taking a walk is better for me than sitting there through another episode of "Wipeout." Yet, I don't do it very often. And, I'm fully aware that drinking water is better for my body than drinking Dr. Pepper. Yet, I often choose the Pepperificness.

Bottomline: Just because we know stuff doesn't mean we'll change old habits. It's a logical fallacy to think that education equals motivation. We do stuff that's bad for us (and for the environment) all the time. We chose lazy over active constantly. Usually you need to both know the stuff and get a good stiff kick in the pants to bring about any sort of real change. So, while we spend all this time talking about the first step (education), does anyone have a good plan for the second step (motivation)?

I fear if we can't find that kick in the pants, we may have ourselves an expensively educated, overexposed consumer with no real desire to do anything more with demand response than watch his in-home energy mood orb change colors in pretty ways.

Siemens Aims for 6 Billion Euros in 5 Years

Siemens let the world know last week that smart grid is their focus and cash in the bank is their goal. They're planning on pulling in billions---not millions, mind you---in the next five years with smart grid and related products.

The release late last week about smart grids touted no new product or new service, just that general announcement that there's going to be lots of euros for smart grid and, by goodness, Siemens wants their fair share.

It's amazing to me that what started as a way for the grid to work smarter, not harder, has garnered such intense industry celebrity these days. While the smart grid's cash cow hasn't yet fully materialized, it's obvious that Siemens is keeping an eye on all in-roads leading from the smart grid to their front door---every path that dear Bessie might wander down.

Wolfgang Dehen, CEO of the Siemens Energy Sector, was quoted as saying, “We are already on the optimal course in the smart grids business and will be running at top speed in the future. A new age for power supplies is dawning with smart grids."Siemens even anticipated that the smart grid cash cow would chew up a billion euros by the end of the current fiscal year. They see a fast growing industry and, according to Dehen, they, personally, want to "grow twice as fast as the overall market."

And, they're not joking. Siemens is projecting seven percent annual growth and a market share of 20 percent.Overall, Siemens expects to receive orders worth around 15 billion euros by 2012.

Forty percent of these orders, or a volume of roughly 6 billion euros, is expected to be for green technologies from the Siemens Environmental Portfolio, according to the company.

And they have a bell in hand for Bessie. There's no way that particular cash cow is going to wander far afield without Siemens hearing the tintinnabulation of its movements.

In honor of Siemens' German roots, perhaps we should start referring to this trend of metaphorically belling the smart grid cash cow as an "almglocke" move.

Makes me wonder who will almglocke little smart grid Bessie next. Who will be next to announce their smart grid intentions in loud, jangling press release bells?

We've Got A New Name

I've been working at Utility Automation and Engineering T and D for four years now. In that time, I have discovered that our magazine name, while incredibly detailed and accurate, is a bit difficult to spit out on the phone, a little hard to add to your name and title to when meeting people. But, I no longer have to worry about that particular problem, since we've changed our name to the leaner, meaner POWERGRID International.

I quite like the name POWERGRID International. I have a real affection for it. It's tight. It's short. It gets the point across quickly, directly. And, it's quite easy to say on the phone, by the way.

PennWell first published POWERGRID International in 1995 under the title Utility Automation magazine. When established, the magazine covered automation, control and IT systems for the electric utility industry. Through the years, it has grown to include SCADA, distribution automation, substation automation, automatic meter reading, GIS and the current hot topic, smart grids.

I guess I might like the name because it says exactly what we cover: T&D, or the grid, from one end to the other, from the power coming out of that generating station, that wind turbine, that solar panel array all the way to your fridge, your AC, your flat screen TV.

Officially, the new name will be revealed in print with our September issue, which is also full of juicy expanded international coverage about smart grids in Europe and work in Tokyo. So, make a note to check it out when it mails this month (and gets posted right here to our new Website, too.)

We hope you enjoy the way this new name, POWERGRID International, rolls off the tongue so easily. I know I do.

On Sharks, Data Doors, Smart Grid and Broadband

Nick Sinai has been working at the Federal Communication Commission (FCC) for almost a full month now. And, he's already had his first test of office: gathering vendors, utilities and thought leaders for a webcast on broadband and the smart grid.

He managed an impressive list for a newbie: Eric Lightner, director of the Federal Smart Grid Task Force for the U.S. Department of Energy; Dean Prochaska, national coordinator for smart grid conformance with the NIST; Mark Dudzinski, CMO of GE Energy; Eric Miller, SVP of solutions at Trilliant; Henry Jones chief scientist with our old friends SmartSynch; Joby Lafky, program manager of an electric vehicle management platform at Gridpoint; and Jason Griffith, director of IT telecom engineering with AEP.

Sinai started the show by admitting that there are a lot of varying definitions of a smart grid.

"Sometimes it's hard to understand what the smart grid means," he stated. "But, all elements that I've seen have a communication requirement."

And communication was the central point of this webcast (which would be obvious to anyone looking at the speaker line-up without even a glance at the title).

Sinai continued: "Having worked both in communication and energies, I can tell you that both are essential services. Both built reliable networks. But, there are some differences. There's been tremendous innovation in communications, but perhaps less so in electric power. Spending is pretty low. It's been said that dog food makers spend more money on research than the power industry."

The dog food makers weren't available for comment about that statement, but it is a common industry comment that our R&D money is a little light. And one area that will need significant cash to smooth the way for the smart grid is communication.

In the meeting, most speakers were adamant that we must roll out the smart grid train from a new, shiny and well-polished communications station.

Dean Prochaska with NIST confirmed this: "Wireless communication for smart grid is an area we need to hone in on during our action plan."

But, it's all not quite as simple as laying out cash. There are problems. According to Mark Dudzinski of GE these fall into two areas: volumes of data and speed of data.

For those of you out in cyber space not "up" on the communications requirements of the smart grid, let's stop here for a little allegory. Think of the grid as a series of tunnels, linear and sealed off by a series of doors. (If you've seen "Jaws 3," just picture all those underwater observation tubes the cardboard-cutout 3D shark attacks at the end of the worst Dennis Quaid flick ever made.)

Now, when the very angry shark in "Jaws 3" rammed the tubes, all sorts of doors slammed down to seal off areas to keep water from drowning the people still inside. But, take away the teeth-heavy shark and all that water and you have an idea of the urgency with the smart grid "tunnels." Doors will slam. Regularly. With urgency.

Think of those people as data, and we need to get those people from one end of the tube to the other end before the big, heavy door slams down. Now, we know that the door slams down and opens up every 15 minutes. (The grid transmits data---or basically "works"---in 15-minute intervals.)

If you have three people to run through the door in 15 minutes, this is a relatively easy task. But, each new feature on the smart grid would be represented in this scenario by more and more people---perhaps reaching into the millions. Now, how do we get a million people through the door in 15 minutes? Either we need more time (which isn't an option, really) or we need a bigger door, right?

Right. That's where broadband comes in. It's the bigger door for the smart grid data. And, so far, no sharks. Well, no literal sharks, anyway.

Eric Miller of Trilliant revealed: "Smart grid is not just about metering. There's grid communications, real-time communications, information on energy use and price in the home. When we look at communications needed for that, it drives a different model.... Many of those will require true broadband capacity. The key is bandwidth. It will be critical. Controlling a substation doesn't require much, but an additional video feed to watch the substation requires megabits of additional capacity. As we increase the need of users, bandwidth needs expand exponentially."

Now that we're all sure we need that bandwidth that broadband provides, the question remains whether to use commercial options already available (the same network your cell phone uses) or build our own private network. Miller wants the private option, but Henry Jones with SmartSynch sees more positives with the network already available.

Miller is worried about backhaul issues; Jones is looking at the practical economy of it all. But, nothing has been decided upon just yet. So, the discussion continues.

Jason Griffith with AEP doesn't really take a side on public or private networks. As a utility representative, he is concerned about two items: money and coverage. And whether that's covered by a commercial option or a private one isn't nearly as important as how it answers these three questions: Will it work? Will it be reliable? Will there be costs I have to pass on to my rate payers?

It will certainly be an interesting debate to keep an eye on.

Information from the FCC webcast on smart grid, broadband and climate change can be found on their website:www.fcc.gov

Should Exec Pay Impact Consumer Bills?

AP reported this week that before regulators will consider raising rates for Florida Power & Light (FPL) and Progress Energy in January, they want a look at the books---not the fuel costs or bills for upgrades and new technology. No. Specifically, they want to know who gets paid over $165K a year and why.

A sweeping unanimous vote by the Public Service Commission, they've gone on the record saying that such information is vital to their analysis. FPL wants $1.3 billion, Progress Energy $500 million. The Public Service Commission wants details.

Legal reps for Progress claim that revealing that info will raise costs and lower productivity. They expanded on that statement to say that showing their hand on employee compensation would also create poor employee morale and increase employee turnover. (No, they never actually explained how all those dots connected, exactly.)

According to public records reported on by AP, FPL has 463 employees that jump that 165K bar; Progress Energy has 132.

It seems obvious, doesn't it? The Commission is thinking that, perhaps, instead of raising rates on an over-taxed, recession-exhausted end-user, the utilities should consider compensation evaluations, reductions or layoffs.

My stepfather used to say that no one, anywhere, could ever work hard enough to "morally earn" more than 100K a year. Any more than that, and there was, obviously, a little gouging going on somewhere, in his view. (Of course, he worked outside in the heat, in the cold, under old homes, in the dirt, and never made more than 25K. So, he probably would feel very little empathy for an executive making "the big bucks," as he'd label them.)

But, do they earn the big bucks? Now, the utilities might argue that some of those people---nuclear engineers, for example---have unique skills and that high compensation is the cost of keeping them around, making sure they don't jump ship to another employer willing to pay them what they are worth.

But I think the average joe at the receiving end of an FPL or Progress electric bill would be surprised to learn that anyone working at their electric company makes $165K a year, let alone over 100 (with Progress) or almost 500 (with FPL).

So, does the Commission have a point? They might be approaching it on the subtle side right now, but the question lingers: Do utilities have a right to go out and ask for consumers to pay more without first examining expenses in house?

AWEA, WOW use FERC to go toe-to-toe with MISO

As a writer, I get a lot of press releases a day: products, contracts, events, staff changes. A lot. If I don’t clean them out by the hour, there’s a chance of a digital avalanche, of sorts. Every once in awhile, though, while religiously deleting and passing things on to other editors and writers, I find one that captures my interest. Yesterday, it was the AWEA, WOW release claiming “unfair practices” in a new FERC filing.

I love this blog headline, by the way. Is that enough acronyms for ya? I wonder if I could fit in any more. Here are the basics before we start into the juicy goodness of the story: AWEA stands for the American Wind Energy Association. WOW is the Wind on the Wires organization. AWEA, of course, is all about getting wind to a viable spot for regular use as a generation source. WOW is about getting equal, fair access to transmission for wind generators. FERC, or the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission, regulates power stuffs nationally and MISO, or the Midwest Independent System Operator, keeps an eye on all sorts of grid stuffs in the Midwest.

Now that we’re all acronym savvy, let’s get to the meat of this: MISO is proposing wiping out their current cost allocation system for upgrades to hook generators into the grid. Currently, there’s a complicated system using various factors like kilovolts and regional loads. The basic idea boils down to this: 50% of the cost to hook in generators with new upgrades is paid for by the generator and about 50% is paid for by the transmission peeps in the region, since it is assumed that they will benefit from the load.

But, a few smaller transmission people, like Otter Tail, are a little peeved. See, they’re paying 50% for a load that zips right past them, like paying for a highway with no exits to benefit the businesses of your town. They’ve cried foul. MISO’s heard them and proposed a reversal, with 90 to 100% of the upgrades required to hook in generators to be paid for by those generators.
At its core, the idea seems fair, like a manufacturer rolling in the cost of distribution. You’ve got to get the product out there, and local businesses who don’t sell your pickles, tires or pencil sharpeners don’t wish to contribute to your distribution system.

But, AWEA and WOW point out that MISO’s solution is heavy-handed due to one issue: wind generators don’t have a lot of choice about where to put their power. They can’t be lured to one region or town or county by tax incentives and local parades like the mechanics bay for American Airlines or the next Toyota plant. They have to follow the wind. So, without the choice to decline use of a space, this system change is a bit choking to the wind industry.

So, what’s a fair compromise? Do we put the burden on the company creating the product, on the region that may or may not benefit from the load, on the end-user (if you can track it through that far)? How much leeway do we give generators like wind and solar who have to follow nature rather than tax incentives? And, how much should we expect of their neighbors who “lived” in that area before they moved in and never expected to be charged for the privilege of just seeing a new face in the neighborhood?

Are PHEVs on the Horizon?

A couple of weeks ago, I interviewed Dave Mohler, the chief technology officer of Duke Energy, for an article I’m doing on smart grid technology.

After a lot of discussion about how much Duke is investing in smart grid---with cash, manpower and pilot programs---Mohler revealed what I consider to be his most controversial, yet interesting, point.

I asked him what he thinks the smart grid will bring about that’s unique. He replied, “The one killer app from smart grid tech will be PHEVs.”

PHEVs? Really? I admit it. I was floored. Smart appliances, demand response ideas, even cyber security alternatives, all of these I might have expected from an industry insider, but PHEVs?

PHEVs, by most industry peeps I’ve spoken too in the last few years, is considered to be ... well, dare I write it out? OK, I dare: Silly. Impractical. Even impossible.

And here Mohler is just pulling the rug out from under me. Is he right? Is the smart grid going to give me a plug-in car that I can charge from the house (and that I can use to charge the house, too, if the power goes out)? It’s certainly an interesting idea. And, it’s not coming from the “far left”; it’s coming from Duke Energy---they of the Utility of the Future, they of the 35,000 MW of generating capacity.

It’s just rather shocking to have what my mother would term “hippie talk” from the tech head of one of the largest power companies in the U.S. It’s also exciting, interesting and fascinating.

In related news, U.S. power industry research giant EPRI is working with one of the largest ports in the world, the Port of Long Beach, to test plug-in hybrid “tractors” to unload cargo. The three-month Port of Long Beach demonstration project is part of a one-year demonstration, during which the tractor will also be tested and evaluated at ports in Savannah, Ga., Mobile, Ala., Houston, and New York City. EPRI will document the tractor's performance and operation including electric grid system impact, vehicle system efficiency, emissions, costs and vehicle performance.

Perhaps Mohler can predict the PHEV future for all of us. First the Port of Long Beach, then the world.

CO-OPs Do One Thing

It appears that one area of our industry may be recession-proof indeed: co-ops.

This week, the National Rural Utilities Cooperative Finance Corp. announced results from its annual key ratio trend analysis (KRTA) report that keeps an eye on the wallets of distribution cooperatives across the country. Low and behold, this year’s results show cooperatives that are strong and holding steady, even amidst the gloom and doom newscasts lamenting the demise of consumer confidence, the evils of the job market and concerns that the stimulus moola has been a waste.

The KRTA report is based on data submitted by 819 distribution cooperatives for the year ending Dec. 31, 2008. The report had three major findings.

1.) Revenues at co-ops kept up with fuel issues last year, indicating that, indeed, fuel adjustments and rate increases are being used more often, keeping the co-ops healthy.

2.) Financial ratios are not careening out of control, so no worries about a Wall Street crash among the rural power set. TIER is super (2.27, which is happier than the 1.25 required to borrow cash). Modified debt is A-OK. Aggregate cash is weathering nicely. Cash equivalent is solid.

3.) We have growth. Consumer growth rate was 1 percent. OK, 1 percent doesn’t sound super. But, that’s nearly double that of municipals and IOUs, according to the EIA. Kilowatt hours were up, too (1.22 percent).

Perhaps this only goes to prove that power is a necessity, and if you’re in the business of selling power and not selling a smart grid or a marketing campaign or investments or stock portfolios, you can survive those downturns. I’d say it’s all about ‘back to basics,’ but co-ops are all about basics and always were. They’ve never strayed from that.

Reminds me of the old farmer down the street from my parents’ place in Kansas. The man never strayed, either. Every year, he grew wheat. He’d say, “Kansas was meant to grow wheat. Period.” His peers experimented with soy beans, with corn for ethanol, with cotton, even. Trying to stay ahead of the market and the prices. But, that old farmer, he lived and breathed wheat. He knew wheat. He stuck with wheat. And, while he may have had a lean year or two, he never busted. But some of his peers did.

He had wheat; the co-ops have power. The simplicity and experience with both may be the key: Do one thing. Do it well. It’s a UNIX concept. It’s Google’s corporate philosophy. And, for co-ops, it may have been a saving grace during an economic crisis.

So, What is the Smart Grid, Really?

I’m working on a story---as is a writer’s annoying habit. This one’s for the Sept. issue of the magazine, and I’ve decided to title it “Will Smart Grids Take Over the World?” I might even have a big Godzilla toy stomping on the North Pole of a shiny globe as the artwork for it. There’s a fantasy quality to smart grids that lends itself to over-the-top visuals.

In working on this story, I needed leads. I mean, really, no one is gonna listen to me blather on about smart grids without some support. So, I’ve lined up some responses, some stats, a nice interview with Duke Energy. I’m making progress.

Perhaps I’m making too much progress.

These days, I think I should illustrate the story with the Blob instead of Godzilla---the smart grid as amorphous and out of control. It’s taking over my work life, this story. Contacts and leads forward my story idea to other contacts and other leads and now I have no idea how many responses I’m going to get or where they might all come from. It’s a whole lot of input that’s coming at me from all sides. Why? Cuz saying “smart grid” in this industry is like screaming “kegger” on a college campus. We’ll elbow each other out of the way to get a hit.

That’s all well and good. It’s awesome to have lots of people taking lots of different points of view. Yet, they won’t. There won’t be differing points of view, I’ll bet you. I doubt I hear a single . . . well, doubt.

You see, at the center of this story is a single premise. Riddle me this: Is the smart grid brilliant or just hype?

Whether I get 5 responses, in the end, or 500, I guarantee you no one will tell me it’s just hype. After all, it’s the great industry hope. We’re tying our dreams to the smart grid---and our investment money, and our advertising dollars and our roadmaps to the future.
But, just last week FERC issued a statement that was intended to light a fire under the movement to work on smart grid standards. IEEE is working on something, but, we, as an industry, are a bit “slow-pokey” about these things.

So, here we are packaging and dolling up the smart grid, but no one has standards. So far, this roadmap has no key, I guess.

Reminds me of the Christmas my grandfather put together my Barbie Dream House without instructions. He got it done, but it took him all night. And more pots of coffee than he’d care to remember. He finished in time to catch about an hour of sleep. I was impressed. It was put together sturdy enough, even without directions. My grandfather’s always been handy at things. I played with that Barbie Dream House for years. But, then again, it was just a toy.

The smart grid, however, is not just a toy. And, we’re tying an awful lot of ourselves to something that still defies definition. And lacks instructions.

May we be as good at winging it today as my grandfather was back in 1979.

FROM THE ARCHIVES: Customer Service is Key

The biggest splash in the Internet world this week here in the U.S. of A. is Canadian band Sons of Maxwell. Apparently, a year ago, the band flew United Airlines and United managed to break the lead singer’s prize Taylor guitar, and those aren’t cheap. After a year of phone calls and getting the wild-goose runaround from call centers and service agents, the band wrote a song and filmed a video about their experience rather directly titled “United Breaks Guitars.” (Pop that title into You Tube, and you’ll get the video. But, I warn you: That song will be stuck in your head all day.)

Now, this amusing little tidbit on bad customer service and how it can come back to bite a company in the tokhes, reminded me of a local problem here in Oklahoma from a few years ago.

You see, airlines aren’t the only people with bad customer service and problematic call centers and service agents. Utilities often have similar issue.

Here in Tulsa, around 2003, an irate customer got so angry with the local gas utility Oklahoma Natural Gas---commonly referred to as just ONG---that he started a website titled ONGSucks.com. Not only did he start a website, he started a campaign. There were billboards all over the city that advertised the website and encouraged visitors to the site. He spent money from his own pocket (as Sons of Maxwell did with United) to “fight the Man,” as it were.

There were local news stories about the onslaught. There were barbs back and forth. The website was taken down only to be replaced with an ONGStillSucks.com website and new round of billboards. Now, both of those sites are defunct in 2009, but it plagued ONG for years, and it’s an incident that is still remembered, fondly, by Tulsans. Seriously, it was funny. And, we’d all felt his pain because we’d all been in a position where we felt belittled and without options trying to fix or complain about a service we can’t go without.

A lot of times people in necessary service industries---hospitals, airlines, utilities---have a rough and tumble mindset. Since those services are necessary, and they’re usually a form of local monopoly without serious competition, they adopt a surly, bully ‘tude, a “We’re Necessary, So You’ll Just Take What We Dish Out” response. But customer service is key, whether you’re selling eggs or electrons.

In the Jan/Feb 2009 issue of Electric Light & Power magazine, author Cynthia White noted that “until recently, consumers did not hold utilities to the same customer service standards they held other businesses.” But, she also noted that those old attitudes are changing, and it’s time for utilities to be more focused on the consumer as a customer. In the same issue, Jerry Duvall, CEO of CS Week, noted the “strategic importance of improving the customer experience.”

Granted, with electric and gas service---and sometimes airlines---you don’t really have a lot of (or any) options to change your service provider. But, as our ONG Sucks guy and our United Breaks Guitars band prove: Where there’s a will---and passionate, pent-up annoyance--- there’s a way. A happy consumer doesn’t post You Tube videos or plaster hate speech on billboards. And, to quote Martha Stewart, that’s a good thing.

FROM THE ARCHIVES: Will Wind Bring Oklahoma Out of the Recession?

The wind industry is hot. It’s popular---perhaps more popular than positively polled President Obama or the newly elected American Idol. It’s the buzz of both energy-related and mainstream media; it’s the source of great press about mandates, tax credits and other goodies that the government might bring to the table. It’s the subject of bestselling books and well-attended conferences.

One of those well-attended conferences occurred in the heat of the summer in the middle of the windy plains this week. According to planners, nearly 500 people gathered in Norman, Oklahoma for the Oklahoma Wind Commerce conference June 23-24. That’s way more than they expected.

The Oklahoma Department of Commerce sponsored the conference, having decided that wind is one of the industries that Oklahoma is built for. Given that the state is in the midst of tornado alley, the idea that the fuel for this industry is readily available locally is certainly a given. If the wind isn’t blowing, you aren’t in Oklahoma. (I always picture Will Rogers saying something along those lines, anyway.)

So, the conference focused on other areas that can sweeten the pot beyond an available fuel source: pushing for tax incentives, creating a smoothly operating supply chain and offering well-trained employees for the picking.

Opportunities abound in areas of education and fuel source for the wind industry in Oklahoma with a lot of the local colleges specializing in wind turbine programs, but will the industry answer that call for action? If they build the perfect “home” for wind energy, will they come?

One company that at least answered a call for the conference was Acciona Energy. Tom Hiester, vice president with the company, was the keynote speaker for the conference luncheon. Joking that the attendance for this conference was “larger than the first AWEA event,” Hiester had a simple premise for his speech: that wind is a huge business opportunity but that, like all opportunities, there are hurdles.

First and foremost with these hurdles is transmission.

“We need long-distance transmission. We need lots of it .... Wind is a fuel that must be used in place, unlike gas or coal,” Hiester noted. This requires transmission lines. The building of transmission lines requires money. The bottom-line question is: Can Oklahoma bring in enough wind to offset the cost of the lines?

Hiester believes so. He quoted a DOE estimate that the state had the potential to harvest 725 billion kWh from wind. Hiester even noted that, perhaps, the DOE numbers were too high and that, for sake of argument, he’d give those numbers “a haircut” and shave it down by a factor of four. That’s about 180billion kWh a year, or approximately 30 percent of the current oil and gas business in the state.

“At $2 million per megawatt, Oklahoma is a $100 billion opportunity,” Hiester added. “Clearly, wind is worth the fuss.”

In the end, Hiester called not just for more transmission, but for more government help in getting Oklahoma on track for more wind energy investments. Citing issues like Eisenhower’s interstate highway system (the largest public works project in history), Hiester noted that when big government and big thinkers unite, the country gets society-changing projects.

FROM THE ARCHIVES: Is Yucca Mountain Dead?

American news agencies from the Las Vegas Sun to the New York Times are reporting the demise of the Yucca Mountain nuclear waste repository project. And, honestly, I’m not sure how I feel about that.

I know how I’m supposed to feel---at least, in parts. The Democrat in me wants to follow Harry Reid and say “good riddance to bad rubbish that never actually worked.” But, the industry insider in me thinks, “Well, OK. Yucca was super flawed, but where’s the waste going to go now?”
All this fuss centers around page 65 of President Obama’s budget, which proposes the Yucca Mountain elimination and allocates lots o’ millions, instead, for the Department of Energy (DOE) to explore alternatives to the Nevada site. In fact, the 2009 United States Federal Budget, “A New Era of Responsibility: Renewing America’s Promise,” proposes to eliminate funding for the repository almost entirely.

The report states, “The Budget focuses on improved performance and accountability for the environmental legacy of the Nation’s nuclear weapons program by addressing health and safety risks across the country. The Yucca Mountain program will be scaled back to those costs necessary to answer inquiries from the Nuclear Regulatory Commission, while the Administration devises a new strategy toward nuclear waste disposal.”

So, they’re killing it by not funding it. It’s a pretty common political play. And, again, the divide seems to fall a lot along party lines with this. Dems are celebrating; repubs are annoyed. The donkey dances; the elephant harrumphs.“For more than two decades, some have persistently tried to turn a piece of the magnificent Nevada desert just outside of Las Vegas into a dumping ground for dangerous nuclear waste. I am proud to say that today, with the release of President Obama’s budget, that idea is dead,” stated Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) about the developments in his home state. It’s been pretty common knowledge that he hated the Yucca project for years. He hasn’t exactly made it a secret.Democratic Rep. Shelley Berkley (D-Nev.) added, “President Obama is making good on the promise he made to end Yucca Mountain, and this budget takes us closer than ever before to permanently burying this $100 billion dinosaur in the Nevada desert. Support for Yucca Mountain has collapsed.”

The Republicans aren’t quiet, either. In late April, when news of this funding cutoff filtered through political channels, seventeen GOP senators wrote to Energy Secretary Chu asking for a rationale of the decision. The letter was penned by Sen. Jim Inhofe (R-Okla.). Former presidential candidate John McCain was among the 16 senators who signed Inhofe’s letter. The DOE stated that Inhofe will receive an answer to his letter, but no response has yet been made public by the DOE.And, just this morning, Chicago writer Dennis Bryne, penned an editorial on the Chicago Tribune’s Web site claiming that the demise of Yucca Mountain’s repository “would leave Illinois with the shaft” while the state holds onto nearly 7,000 tons of nuclear waste.“Now, the question becomes whether Illinois' Democratic senators---Dick Durbin and Roland Burris---will adequately represent the state's and nation's interests by fighting to keep the Yucca Mountain project alive,” Bryne wrote. “Ah, but you know they won't.”

Yucca Mountain was selected in 1987 as a potential repository for nuclear waste created from the process of electricity production, including spent nuclear fuel rods and solidified high-level radioactive waste. It has been a contentious subject for over 20 years and the project itself has never been completed. And that’s why I don’t know exactly how to feel. As a proponent of nuclear, I’m a little sad. But, as someone who has been in the business almost a decade---long enough to follow only half of the Yucca debate---I can’t help but think of what my grandfather would say after 20 years of wrangling and wrestling with an issue: Girl, it’s time to fish or cut bait.The Obama Administration chose to cut bait. And while I may not agree with it, while I may be wondering what that all means for nuclear energy’s future, I can’t help but agree that it was past time for a decision of some kind to be made.

FROM THE ARCHIVES: History for Sale

There’s a bit of a tussle going on in New York’s real estate market. And, no, it has nothing to do with the global economic downturn or the collapse of the real estate bubble here in the U.S.---at least, not directly.

There’s a fight over a dilapidated 16-acre Long Island commercial complex that’s been empty for over a decade. It has changed hands a lot over the years, but its original owner and builder was Nikola Tesla.

Between 1901 and 1917, Tesla was engrossed---as only Tesla could be, given his obsession-compulsive disorder---in building a giant tower. He wanted to broadcast to the world---not just words, radio and sound . . . but also, electricity.

Indeed, Wardenclyffe Tower was Tesla’s attempt to create a giant wireless electric tower. And, although it was never completed before Tesla’s quirks and rather deep debt caught up with him, remnants of the tower (its base) and the lab (the building) remain.

That’s where the fight comes in.

Agfa Corp. owns the complex, and they have since well before this blogger was born. They built parts and parcels for their well-known imaging systems on site for two decades before the doors closed in 1992. (Since then, the corporation, with a push from the state of New York, has been cleaning up the contamination from the chemicals used in the process.) Now, Agfa has put the entire complex up for sale.

For decades, a series of science associations and “friends of Tesla” groups have been trying to get the site declared a national monument, registered as a part of history. But, it’s been a slow and laborious process aggravated by any number of issues: cost, red tape, rotating association memberships, lack of interest by the state representatives, the site’s problems with contamination. Now, there’s a sense of real urgency, given that the real estate notice offers to level the property for potential buyers, effectively erasing Tesla’s “million-dollar folly,” as newspapers in 1917 called it.

Now, here’s where the economy does play in: Agfra has said they are open to legitimate offers from groups wanting to save the complex and convert it into a Tesla museum, but it has made quite clear that it cannot afford to donate the property for such a purpose.

The battle is ongoing, and no one can predict its outcome. Will Tesla finally get a museum from Wardenclyffe, or will it be flattened for “progress”? Will nostalgia win, or will the bottom line?
Tesla was an odd character, perhaps the classic view of a “mad scientist,” only made more potent by the various disorders he exhibited that were never accurately diagnosed, by his tendency to experiment on a big level and send bolts of electricity through the sky, and by his extreme focus on scientific ideas that seemed magical and supernatural to the average citizen. But, he was brilliant. He won the radio battle with Marconi---though it took a Supreme Court ruling after his death to confirm that. He designed the first hydro electric plant, and, oh yes, one other small little factor: He electrified the world, since his alternating current won out over Edison’s direct current.

This round, though, might go to Edison. Wardenclyffe, which is basically “down the street” from the Edison Museum remains a ghost of a dream, while Edison already has his architectural place in American history.

FROM THE ARCHIVES: An Anniversary to Remember

I grew up in Kansas, land of the waving wheat. In all my years as a farm kid, I got used to a lot of oddities: how the fields around my house in the summer time used to make my cousins from the South seasick watching the breezes blow through the bendable stalks, how the old farmer down the street---meaning about five miles away---would move hay bales the size of our house completely by himself with his equally old tractor, and how the sky turned just a certain shade of gray-green when a tornado was headed your way.

Tornados are, in fact, something you get rather used to in Kansas. Sirens and battery-powered radios and discussions about how to cover yourself with a twin mattress while cowering in a bathtub are rather common things in Kansas in the springtime. And, while we all got used to being prepared and being vigilant, we never got used to one thing---the incredible destruction.
I was thinking about all of this today because it’s a particular anniversary: two years since a tornado took out the small Kansas town of Greensburg. The whole town. Completely and utterly flattened; 90% of it destroyed.

Before the tornado, I doubt anyone really knew much about Greensburg, Kansas. A small community in the flat flow of the Western plains, its major claim to fame before the tornado was the world’s largest hand-dug well.

These days, its major claim to fame is new and thoroughly modern: the city of Greensburg is rebuilding itself “green.” The long-term community recovery plan established a sustainable development resource office with building programs that awarded “Greensburg Green” certifications. The city set about finding energy alternatives, including renewables. And they started a grant and loan program for both residences and businesses.

You can check out all that Greensburg is doing at their “Greensburg GreenTown” website. (Just click here.) Greensburg GreenTown is a Kansas-based nonprofit organization established to be “a model of sustainable living for the world.” Their projects include solar panels, silo eco-homes, wind farms and energy efficiency. But, the city is making no sacrifices to do so. In fact, they feel these changes bring a lot of positives to their old town. (Last Thursday, as part of the anniversary festivities and to have a bit of educational fun, the residents dropped a car on top of the silo eco-home. Dropped from a crane with 180,000 pounds of force, the car didn’t make a dent in the structure. The company that built the home wanted to show how much force it can stand up to---even tornado-level force, which has been known to toss a car or two.)
Assisted by FEMA and the State of Kansas, Greensburg notes in the opening pages of the community recovery plan that they have been “blessed with a unique opportunity to create a strong community devoted to family, fostering businesses,working together for future growth.” Rather than seeing the tornado’s destruction as completely negative, the town has grown to see starting over as a chance to make a town that’s smarter, greener, more efficient and healthier for its populous.

As a Kansas farm kid, I have to say, I am impressed that this small, rural community is taking on this unique opportunity to become a shining example of sustainable energy and construction.