President Obama plans to accelerate the development of electrical “smart grid”
ByPresident Obama has allocated $4.5 billion in the economic stimulus package to modernize the nation’s electricity system and put smart-grid technology on the fast track. They say are selling you on the idea that it will be for you to decide when you want to purchase your power. During the more expensive peak consumption periods or you can buy your power during cheaper low usage periods. Wow! I have a choice, right? Well what about our elderly and our poor who don’t have enough money to purchase power during peak hours? Maybe this will be yet another reason for him to add more money into the welfare system. Government causes the problem and they will fix it by making sure they can come in to hand out money and save these unfortunate individuals. Things like this always start out by being sold to you as being something that will benefit you, don’t they? After a short break-in period we get hit with a big dose of reality that usually just costs EVERYONE more money!
You may believe that the smart grid isn’t such a bad idea, until you live some place where when an official sitting in their air conditioned office decides too much power is being consumed and idles everything in a particular zone back. Let’s say you live in an area that reaches one 100
Smart Grid Energy Plan
degrees Fahrenheit regularly. Air conditioners are running at their maximum capabilities in attempts to keep your home or work environment cool. The energy consumption is coming to a point that is too high (this level will most likely be decided by our favorite Government officials) and the order gets sent out to a smart grid operational center to cut back on power consumption. You and I might be able to handle this cut back ourselves, but the sweet little elderly lady next door has some kind of medical condition and needs to stay cool. Even if the operator cared enough to keep from cutting back on the power going to her air conditioner, he would not have this ability.
Of course, there are many more issues to be addressed with this new technology. With all the food related problems as of late, this would be my next major concern that needs to be addressed. Who will make sure my food in refrigerator and freezer doesn’t spoil while some bureaucrat has decided to cut back on energy consumption through the use of this smart grid. Everyone wants to use children when they want to get their agenda’s pushed onto others. This is an absolutely perfect time to be thinking of our children and the food they could be taking from a refrigerator that has had it’s power cut back for several hours. One day of this may not
Smart Grids will affect communities like yours!
be an issue, but when the heat waves roll in, they usually stick around for several days or even weeks. This on top of itself should add concerns to environmentalists, as it will cause more waste to go into our landfills. So many times there is no thorough analysis of these topics before some politician comes along looking to take care of the wants of some special interest group that helped them get into office.
Now, if those aren’t big enough concerns consider this. Just how safe is your power grid when there is always some hacker out there just waiting to break the code and decide to play around with the power grid or worse yet, destroy it. Sure they are telling you this system will have the best electronic security available. Here’s something to think about. Someone somewhere had to design this security system. If someone designed it, somebody else can and will figure it out. Just to add to this, most likely it will have been designed and/or written in a foreign location where life is cheap and a few hundred bucks can buy just about anything. If my ramblings aren’t enough to convince you that this is a bad idea. Then let’s hear it from an expert who knows a little about this. “With smart grid, anybody with an eBay account and $80 can go and buy a smart meter, reverse-engineer it and figure out how to attack the grid,” said Josh Pennell, president and CEO of IOActive, a technology research firm in Seattle, who testified before the Department of Homeland Security last week.
These are my ramblings on the smart grid. Add your comments to let me know your thoughts.
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the smart grid is only the tip of the ice, in reacent proposal from a alderman in chicago, wants to use red light cameras to start catching vehicals that do not have insurenc where will this stop? cameras used thru the smart grid tec in your living room !!
I wrote a little more in my blog check it out if ya like .
killpoke.wordpress.com
This is the dumbest article ever. The author obviously knows NOTHING about the delivery of electricity. First of all, the only "officials" that would decide anything are utility execs–who, btw, don;t want to invests in transmission capacity and haven't for some time. Please get a clue before spewing this tin-foil hat garbage.
Quote from article: “With smart grid, anybody with an eBay account and $80 can go and buy a smart meter, reverse-engineer it and figure out how to attack the grid,” said Josh Pennell, president and CEO of IOActive, a technology research firm in Seattle, who testified before the Department of Homeland Security.
You are so right Robert! Apparently my research knows nothing and Josh Pennell quoted below, knows nothing. Utility execs, huh? Maybe you haven't watched the news as of late to see all the new Government owned and now operated corporations. Do you really believe they will not take over or control the power grids if they see it to suit their political agendas? As to the execs not wanting to invest in transmission capacity. Do you suppose that is why the Government allocated $4.5 Billion to get it going?
I did leave out the compounding costs that every citizen will pay when this goes forward. Maybe I'll just throw that in part two to see how well you like more truth being spilled.
Regards,
The Author
First of all, any meter can be reversed engineered now! It actually enhances security from a HLS perspective to install so-called "smart metering." All that means is that they are readable and controllable by RFID. The power cos here in N.C. have been changing over to control costs for over 5 yrs now. BTW, who do think changes out the meters? Not govt agents.
As for trans capacity–cost is precisely why the govt is investing–and has been since the first Bush Admin, for heaven's sake! Transmission is expensive and there is no way to quickly re-coup investment. That is exactly what ENRON was counting on when it sold its "wheeling" schemes to the utility cos. in Texas and CA.
Moreover, our demand fields are greater as IT systems have gotten more powerful and numerous. On top of all of that, consider how vulnerable the old system is to ELP. The new systems will have some measure of shielding and switching redundancy in case of attack or natural diaster.
Is there a danger the govt would use it. Of course. There's also a danger that I might become a rap star. Possible, but not very likely.
As to your reaserch, yes, honestly, I don't think much of it. Nor do I think much of Josh Pennell's testimony. The things he describes can be accomplished with $20 and a trip to Radio Shck–forget eBay.
The point is, the horse is out of the barn with the technology. As for the political angle, please. There are more important matters–real crises–that need attention. There are simply too many EEs and good, hardworking men and women at the utility companies for any one entity to gain control of our transmission system.
Could not agree with you more RapidRobert. As a 25 year electrician I have paid attention to electrical issues a long time. Our grid is indeed outdated and this is the wrong subject for conservatives to attack Obama on.. The grid's failure's of the past and our own brownout's in California make his assertions almost laughable. The article itself cites the dangers of an overloaded grid yet seems to not want more capacity? or is it just meters that are no longer of last centuries design?The Enron debacle is fresh in Californian's minds and illustrates what happens when corporation's control regulation and make complete deregulation a hard sell to the public. I am a fiscal conservative. I do not believe the government should incur debt, except for 2 reasons. !- war,2-infrastructure that lasts multiple years and adds to productivity or safety. I believe grids qualify under the second. As a side note I do not believe deficit taxation is sustainable or desirable and conservatives should attack spending that does not have an obvious need as grids do.
what we need are term limits,to get the congress and the senate back to the real world. i am also concerned about Obama. his way of thinkiing about this country and his far left ideas .he wants us to be like other countries.people come to the USA to get away from socialisim.