Obama, the Smart Grid and Idealist Ideology

Obama and I have a couple of things in common.

One: We were both born during a Chinese cycle of the ox---although he was born the cycle before I was. So, we have that going for us if we need to make small talk at some imaginary state dinner that I can script in my head. But, secondly, we both seem to be a tad too pragmatic in a time of idealists. And idealists, whether red, white or blue, seem to truly abhor pragmatists---abhor to the point of verbal stone-throwing, really, although Obama gets it way worse than I ever will.

The idealist far left is angry at Obama that he hasn’t made gay marriage legal, stopped the wars, freed all the Gitmo detainees and tapped out the BP oil leak with his burning laser-eyed superpowers. The idealist far right is angry that he tried to stimulate the economy more because economists think that’s a darn tootin’ good idea, wants to continue to help the poor and unemployed, and hasn’t freed corporations from the regulation slavery that’s bringing down the true American spirit of Capitalism.

Instead, Obama seems genuinely focused on trying to make progress on laws, bills, war fronts and economic changes---on political details, if you will. Whether or not you see those details as fitting into your particular ideal for this country, it’s obvious the man is more about connections and thinking than he is about emotions and praying, despite that campaign based on hope. That’s pragmatism.

But, unfortunately for Obama, pragmatism isn’t really an American ideal these days, if the comments section on CNN’s Belief Blog or the responses to the BBC’s Mark Mardell (a British reporter discussing life in America, as he once discussed life in Europe) are any indication. We are an angry bunch of idealists, as a national whole. We are fighting amongst ourselves, loudly. We call the other side “stupid” and “evil.” We have left “live and let live” and “let’s talk about this calmly” behind and have, instead, picked up “if I yell at you long enough, you will see all how wrong you’ve been your whole darn life.” We’ve adopting rather polarizing mantras.

Reports on the smart grid have often followed this same blind idealist climb to the summit over the last few years since the term has become household-known. You either believe the smart grid will save the industry, or you think it’s a bunch of hooey. You either love it, or you hate it. And, there’s not a gray area. And, if you’re in the wrong room, you may be cornered by a mob trying to change those beliefs. (Last year, I wrote two articles for POWERGRID International titled “Will Smart Grid Take Over the World?” That title was a play on this concept of growing smart grid idealism.)

But, back in reality, there is a gray area in the smart grid---and a lot of it, for us pragmatists in that mobbed-up room. The smart grid (more than Obama, CNN or the BBC’s Mardell) lends itself to a lot of gray areas, a lot of pragmatism, a lot of maybes. The technology involved in the smart grid may not be the “end all, be all” of a technological savior, but it is an improvement for a system that, in many cases, hasn’t seen much improvement in half a century.

And, on the other end, there is a lot of hype, a lot of expectations that may not come to fruition. Should we really be looking at solar installations and wind installations and sinking money hand over fist down the renewables road when the smart grid, alone, cannot possibly overcome the limitations of intermittency? Personally, as a pragmatist, I’d look first toward solving energy storage before I’d be sketching out plans for a multi-country, offshore grid infrastructure, as Friends of the Supergrid are working on. However, that spending isn’t money wasted if it brings us to a better system and a better end---albeit, perhaps a roundabout one. And, yay for them for finding a positive “button” to stimulate some funding.

Americans tend to feel strongly about everything from presidents to Pepsi, from couches to Congress. In many cases, that makes us fascinating. However, in entrenching ourselves in personal ideals without a willingness to find that gray area, meet there and see if we like it, we often prevent real technological progress and any actual development, instead miring ourselves down, holding ourselves back.

The smart grid needs fewer zealots and more pragmatists---according to this particular pragmatist, at least. No, the smart grid is not the electric messiah, but it’s also not the devil himself. It’s not everything we need for the next generation; it’s not a ridiculous waste of funding. Now that all those waving flags are out of the way, let’s meet and think---as Pooh said, “Think, think, think, think.”---about what the smart grid really is, can really bring to the table and what its limitations are. And, let’s do so honestly. It’s time to step out from behind ideals and spiels and truly come to terms with what can be accomplished with smart grid technology and, realistically, what cannot.

To the idealist industry left, I wish I could tell you that the smart grid is going to allow you to plug in various solar panels, a personal wind turbine and your PHEV with the ease of plugging in your hair dryer. But, it’s not. On the plus side, it will help you manage appliances and energy. To the idealist industry right, I wish I could tell you that the smart grid is going to infuse mountains of capital into the industry to the point that you could swim in it and then use the leftover cash for a towel. But, it’s not. After initial stimulus funding, you will still have to convince the fearful to overcome the hump of investing in the relative unknown of the future---oh, that pesky unknown future. On the plus side, that pragmatist Obama has opened that investment door a crack and helped you get your foot into it. Now, wiggle. Wiggle what your momma gave you and work that gray area.

Cuz, that gray area is all you’re gonna get.