Smart Grid Or Dim Bulbs
What could possibly go wrong with this, big government tied into big business with a direct link to citizens’ primary source of energy?
That’s essentially the concept lurking behind the new “Envision: Charlotte” initiative, designed to implement a so-called smart grid uptown, with a target to cut energy use by 20 percent in about 60 buildings by 2016. The effort, which was unveiled this week in New York at the annual meeting of the Clinton Global Initiative, is spearheaded by Duke Energy and tech-titan Cisco, which have fronted the $5.3 million cost to upfit participating buildings with smart grid technology, and backed by a public-private partnership that includes the governments of Mecklenburg County and Charlotte, and the uptown booster group Charlotte Center City Partners.
The use of smart grid technologies is championed as a way to provide consumers with tools to better understand and control their energy use and to promote conservation, all of which sounds like a no-brainer of a great idea.
The smart grid wave, however, has already created a maelstrom of controversy over privacy and security issues, prompting concerns that the advanced technologies could be used to expand and bolster big government’s reach into and control over the private sector.
Carol Browner, the Obama Administration’s climate and energy czar, didn’t do much to ease those concerns when she recently proclaimed, speaking of the implementation of a national smart grid, “we can get to a system where an electric company will be able to hold back some of the power so that maybe your air conditioner won’t operate at its peak, you’ll still be able to cool your house, but that’ll be a savings to the consumer.”
Or as the presser announcing the “Envision: Charlotte” initiative put it, “using innovative technologies to encourage energy efficiency and changes in consumer behavior.”
‘Encourage … changes in consumer behavior’: Is that another way of $300K-per-year Center City Partners honcho Michael Smith saying, “Unplug that toaster, citizen.”
While now primarily in the hands of major electric companies, big government has already managed to entwine itself in the smart grid arena. In its push to update the country’s aged energy grid, the Obama Administration has awarded billions of dollars in grant money for smart grid projects, including a nearly $4-million grant to Duke Energy last year.
The leap from private-sector electric companies helping customers better manage their power usage and costs to big government controlling how much energy a household can use and for what purpose, however, is a big one, despite concerns about the potential abuses of smart grid technologies.
I mean it’s not like the government could just step in and takeover an entire industry or anything, right?
We need your help! If you like PunditHouse, please consider donating to us. Even $5 a month can make a difference!
Short URL: https://pundithouse.com/?p=3556
