World trade and Carbon

Carbon is a big motivator for the smart grid, and global standards could be beneficial.  Here is an interesting article by a writer for the WTO.

http://www.wto.org/english/news_e/news10_e/envir_26mar10_e.htm

Transmission, high temperature super conductors

Part of our current transmission system is that we have to use alternating current (AC) for long distance transmission.  The reason for this is that volts push the current, sort of like water pressure, and the pressure needs to be high to push it for long distances.  By high, I mean hundreds of thousands of volts.  To do this a device called a "transformer" increases the voltage from the generation source.  Then, when it arrives at its destination, another transformer lowers to voltage so it can be used in a home or business.  Transformers overheat with direct current, so AC is necessary.

To understand AC, think about putting a battery into a flashlight.  One end is labeled "+,"  for "positive" and the other "-," for negative. The electrons (current) flow from one side to the other in a stream. This is "direct current" (DC), it flows only one way.  With alternating current, it is if the poles switch rapidly (in the US 60 times a second, in Europe, 50 times a second) so the direction of the current flow reverses rapidly. 
DC is just fine for almost any purpose, and in fact, the AC has to be converted to DC o be used.  Those bricks that plug into a wall socket and charge your phone convert AC to DC

One of the things that makes it difficult to use DC for long distances is that when the current goes through the wires it meets "resistance."  The electrons bump into things and lose their energy as heat.  A good example of this where it is done on purpose is an electric heater and you have probably noticed that the power supply on your laptop can get warm as well.  Usually, this heat is wasted.  Your laptop may help keep your house warm on a cold day, but it just gets lost going through wires outside.  If there were no resistance, not only would there be no heat, but there would be no need to increase the voltage or use AC.  That is because the resistance needs to be overcome by pushing the current harder, sort of like pushing a car with the brake on.

There is some good news and bad news about resistance.  The good news is that there are materials with no resistance, the bad news is that the first one discovered, liquid helium, boils at -270°.  It takes a lot of energy to get things that cold. Fortunately, there is more good news: now there are materials that offer no resistance at a balmy -196°, the temperature of liquid nitrogen.   Even though that is colder than Lake Woebegon in January, it does not take nearly as much energy to cool to that temperature as to that of liquid helium.  In fact, it requires significantly less energy that the energy lost by changing the DC to AC, transforming it to high voltages and heating up the power lines.  This study by EPRI talks about the plausibility of doing this, and the verdict is good:

EPRI Shows That Direct Current Superconductor Cable is Feasible for Development Using Today’s Technology

Solar as a regressive tax

This well documented blog entry argues that solar on homes in some cases is a "fashion accessory" and that feed in tariffs are regressive taxes that affect the poor.  The article is from England, but it discusses in detail the feed in tariffs in Germany, which are often used as a model for the US.  They support the PV industry, but do not provide power of any significance nor do they reduce carbon.
A Great Green Ripoff

Great article in Smart Grid News on Consumer Resistance

If you have not signed up for "Smart Grid News," I recommend it  
http://www.smartgridnews.com/artman/publish/Business_Planning_News/Blowback-Attack-The-Smart-Grid-s-Greatest-Danger-1875.html

McKinsey: Green jobs have little direct effect on unemployment

 The report I got from McKinsey this morning had this interesting snippet:

There is a lot of talk these days about green businesses, biotechnology, and other emerging industries that will create the jobs of the future. While they are obviously part of the solution, these industries are too small to create the millions of jobs that are needed right away. The semiconductor and biotech industries, for instance, each employ less than one-half of 1 percent of US workers; clean-technology workers, such as those who design and make wind turbines and solar panels, account for 0.6 percent of the workforce.
We’ll be able to generate significant numbers of new jobs only by spurring broad-based job growth across the economy, particularly in big sectors such as retail, wholesale, business services, and health care. High-tech innovations will help employment grow over the long term, as new technology spreads throughout the economy and transforms other, larger sectors. For example, while the semiconductor industry alone doesn’t account for much US employment, the computer revolution has fueled the growth of other industries such as retail and finance; similarly, the clean-technology business by itself doesn’t employ many people, but its developments could transform a big sector such as energy, creating new business models and new jobs.

Smart Grid Might Save 12% of Carbon Emissions

Though the percentage of Americans that believe in man made climate change is declining, the overwhelming scientific consensus is that it is.  A hot button item in the current political climate is cap and trade, seen by some as a new tax that will crush our economy.  It might not politically viable to sell the smart grid's environmental impact.  This paper, The Smart Grid: An Estimate of the Energy and CO2 Benefits,  gives an overview of both Energy and environmental benefits,

One point that I noticed was:

... renewables themselves are not generally envisioned as a controllable smart grid asset.1
The carbon-free energy they supply is critical to achieving the nation’s carbon-management goals,
however. One of the functions of a smart grid is the ability to manage the assets under its control to help
integrate renewables, such as mitigating the need for additional costly ancillary services to manage their
intermittency, and reducing costs for improved voltage control schemes and short-circuit protection. (2.4)

 

It is worthwhile to look at the EPRI Prism Study to see that they predict only 15% of energy can come from renewables.  Could isolated generation work or  has the demand for electricity exceeded the ability of local generation facilities?

More on that later.

A definition of the Smart Grid

“The smart grid isn’t a thing but rather a vision… It must be more reliable...more secure...more economic…more efficient…more environmentally friendly…(and) It must be safer. A “smart grid” can be (characterized as) a “transactive” agent…(that) will:
   Enable active participation by consumers…
   Accommodate all generation and storage options...
   Enable new products, services, and markets…
   Provide power quality for the digital economy...
   Optimize asset utilization and operate efficiently…
   Anticipate and respond to system disturbances (self-heal).
   Operate resiliently against attack and natural disaster.

Achieving the vision is dependent upon participant circumstances and involves:
   Empowering consumers by giving them the information and education they need to effectively
      utilize the new options provided by the smart grid… 
   Improved reliability and “self-healing” of the distribution system…
   Integration of the transmission and distribution systems to enable improved overall grid operations
      and reduced transmission congestion…
   Integration of the grid intelligence acquired to achieving with new and existing asset management 
      applications…

    Source: Smart Grid News, April 22, 2009. What is the smart grid?