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How far is the Smart grid Going?

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I can see it now.

Two minutes left in the game and the home team is driving for the winning score. The QB drops back to pass and ..............

Good Luck
--------------
As a circle of light increases so does the circumference of darkness around it. - Albert Einstein
 
Don't make me get technical here. But natural brownouts are not caused from the same reason as blackouts. So if you have a natural brownout, blame the utility company, or your plant maintenance surervisor (Maybe the new hot tub next door).

The hospital down the street has there own generation just for this reason. I would be more concerned when you are in the dentist chair.

And blackouts can happen for other reasons than power production limits. Just look at the East coast of the US.

My concern is giving more control to people who have no business making decisions over your life.
 
But any efficiently designed system has constraints, and if we can make better use of a limited system by installing local controls that does not seem unreasonable.



Cheers

Greg Locock


New here? Try reading these, they might help FAQ731-376
 
If someone wants to be able to run their ac 24/7 they have the absolute liberty to do so, so long as they do as the hospital does and installs their own generators.


Cheers

Greg Locock


New here? Try reading these, they might help FAQ731-376
 
Explain why when oil is in short supply the price of gas goes up. And when the supply of oil is in ove supply the price goes down.

But.....We can't do the same with electricity?

That would let you run your AC 24/7, and I can set my dryer to run an midnight.
 
Um, if we managed it in the UK, and we can do that in the Australia, why can't the USA? My off peak rate for electricity is about 40% of the normal rate in Oz, I've forgotten what the differential was in the UK.

Cheers

Greg Locock


New here? Try reading these, they might help FAQ731-376
 
Interesting talk on Radio 4 about the surge damage done in Houston (Irene?) and that 13 million people were without electricity, some for 2 weeks.
It seems with the deregulation and unbundling of national power companies, to whatever extent that applies in the US, the Texas power companies have deliberately isolated themselves from the national grid. While this means there is no connection between the Texas Grid and any neighbouring grids, it also means they are exempt from or manage to evade federal legislation.

It also meant that consumers then faced increased electricity bills and taxes to recover from the damage caused by the storm surge.

But what got my attention was the concept of "neo liberalism" which was said to be to blame for all this. The idea that private companies can act for short term profit and not long term sustainability.

Seems to me it is too easy to blame companies which are legally obliged to act in the best interests of the shareholders when in fact it is legislators who bear the responsibility for establishing, monitoring and enforcing the regulatory environment companies must operate in.

If there is a need for social responsibility and Texas power evaded it by evading federal regulation (and presumably, federal relief and aid) then the responsibility is with the Texas Legislature.

And this is a simple example of how things can go astray. You want to live in Texas with smart meters? Maybe not. Not without better legislation and not without some oversight from the citizens, not without someone who truly represents the consumers having a voice on the regulatory boards. (and that doesn't mean an elected political animal).

Incidentally, we should not expect too much of any OFGAS, OFTEL, or any other Oversight group since they all tend to gravitate to either doing what government wants or what the service provider wants and the consumer gets the short end from both. There is a case to be made for periodic house cleaning, e.g. as provided for in the second amendment (we should have such an amendment in UK law)


JMW
 
The utilities in Texas were smart to avoid fedral regulation, and I wish we could do the same.
The problam is the regulations are veague, and are interpered to the whems of the regulators, who's only desire is leave fines so they look good.

In the US, each utility is required to pay for repairs of there system from there own means (except goverment utilities who get money from FEMA for storms, also while having much higher rates).

The state utility boards are in bed with the lobbiest, who want special things like wind, solar, and discounts for big business. So they don't have time the the little people (voters).

This is the exact point at which state utility boards require 30% wind power, and no coal generation.
 
There are some really crazy people out there. I was just watching our local news and they were interviewing a women who is so scared of the new 'smart meters' installed at her apartment complex that she's now living out of her car "so as not to have to be near the meters and the dangerous radio signals that they're broadcasting back to the power company". I wonder if she's uses a cell-phone while she's sitting in her car?

John R. Baker, P.E.
Product 'Evangelist'
Product Engineering Software
Siemens PLM Software Inc.
Industry Sector
Cypress, CA
UG/NX Museum:
To an Engineer, the glass is twice as big as it needs to be.
 
At what point does it become an invasion of privacy?
Where is the line newspeople won't cross?
Surely the woman living in her car is not newsworthy or relevant. Since she recognisably doesn't represent any logical aspect of the debate her inclusion can only be to hold her up to ridicule and expose her phobias to the public and does not illustrate any logical aspect of the debate.
That she has mental health issues, this is clearly a moral, if not legal, violation of her right for her medical problems to be kept confidential.


JMW
 
Note that the entire 'news' item appeared to focus on the potential 'dangers' that were being caused by the new meters. Of course, if they had been reporting the potential benefits that this and other smart grid technology could bring to residents of the area, the story would have never been aired. Corporate-owned media ONLY reports that which will increase the bottom-line profit. NEWS is now what sells ad time, pure and simple.

John R. Baker, P.E.
Product 'Evangelist'
Product Engineering Software
Siemens PLM Software Inc.
Industry Sector
Cypress, CA
UG/NX Museum:
To an Engineer, the glass is twice as big as it needs to be.
 
The new meters are dangerous if you hold them to close to your head, while talking to them.

This is a minor attempt to rally people about the new concept, without admitting the goverment is behind it. After all,news people know how stupid the rest of us really are.

Which should be offencive to us. That it is assumed we are to stupid to make rational decisions by ourselves. That someone else needs to do it for us.
 
Not dangerous if you wear a foil hat:)
 
Just approve that XL pipeline from Canada and you can have all the energy you want, just like the good old days.

HAZOP at
 
I'm sorry the covenets in my neiborhood won't allow drilling or mining.

I don't know about gas pipes. I like seeing the trains of coal roll by my office window.

Strangely no one complains about the radio transmitter on our gas meters, or the radio transmitters on the traffic lights.
 
EMF has been shown to have various effects on people, some more than others. To dismiss someone who claims to be extra-sensitive to it as being crazy is akin to laughing at people who have been diagnosed with other little-understood ailments, such as chronic fatigue syndrome or fibromyalgia, just because some doctors don't recognize it as a legitimate condition and you have never felt any effect.
I have read similar stories regarding the EMF produced by smart meters, and it seems to cause the biggest problem when the meter to the house is located near a bedroom or other frequently occupied area. The issue often raised is the lack of rights when it comes to controlling EMF in your own home. You can control what appliances or other gadgets you may have, but the power company won't recognize your right to limit EMF when it is related to their supply of electricity.

"Good to know you got shoes to wear when you find the floor." - [small]Robert Hunter[/small]
 
But are we talking about the EMF produced by any device through which a current is passing, which would have included the old mechanical meter, or are we talking about the RF associated with the telemetry link (radio transmitter) which is part of the 'smart' meter/grid technology?

John R. Baker, P.E.
Product 'Evangelist'
Product Engineering Software
Siemens PLM Software Inc.
Industry Sector
Cypress, CA
UG/NX Museum:
To an Engineer, the glass is twice as big as it needs to be.
 
I think Smart Grid will have a shelf life but the length is uncertain in my mind.

Pamela K. Quillin, P.E.
Quillin Engineering, LLC
 
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