A smart grid is a transactive grid.
- Lynne Kiesling
A Smart Intergrid

Via Earth2Tech, detailed commentary by Bob Metcalfe on the possible evolution and development of what he terms a “smart intergrid”. While the idea is not wholly new, Grid Unlocked agrees with this direction but notes the technical feasibility of linking water, energy, gas, etc. grids together to be some time in the future.  That said, perhaps there is a way to develop synthetic instruments representing units of “savings” in each environment that could be traded on a truly ‘smart market’?  As Metcalfe notes:

“…Internet history strongly suggests that the smart grid will eventually have to interconnect grids carrying various forms of electricity, other energy transport grids (like gas pipelines), water grids, transportation grids (like roads for electric cars), and of course the Internet’s various information grids, soon including new grids for distributed energy management inside buildings.

What we’ll need, to coin a phrase, is “the Intergrid…”



This entry was posted on Monday, September 28th, 2009 at 9:37 am and is filed under Uncategorized.  You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed.  You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site. 

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About This Blog And Its Authors
Grid Unlocked is powered by two eco-preneurs who analyze and reference articles, reports, and interviews that can help unlock the nascent, complex and expanding linkages between smart meters, smart grids, and above all: smart markets.

Based on decades of experience and interest in conservation, Monty Simus believes that a truly “smart” grid must be a “transactive” grid, unshackled from its current status as a so-called “natural monopoly.”

In short, an unlocked grid must adopt and harness the power of markets to incentivize individual users, linked to each other on a large scale, who change consumptive behavior in creative ways that drive efficiency and bring equity to use of the planet's finite and increasingly scarce resources.