Google.org announced today that it has partnered with six U.S. utilities as well as one Canadian and one Indian company to begin a large scale roll out of their energy information software. All the chosen companies have installed or are installing smart meters in their customers’ homes. Getting their data from the meters, Google’s software will “show consumers their personal electricity consumption right on a home computer.” Energy consumption will be able to be monitored in near real time and allow consumers a much better understanding about which of their appliances use the most energy and when. The eight companies partnering in the roll out are:

• San Diego Gas & Electric® (California)
• TXU Energy (Texas)
• JEA (Florida)
• Reliance Energy (India)
• Wisconsin Public Service Corporation (Wisconsin)
• White River Valley Electric Cooperative (Missouri)
• Toronto Hydro–Electric System Limited (Canada)
• Glasgow EPB (Kentucky)

With all the current talk about creating a “smart grid”, it is tempting to think the current grid is “dumb”. However, given the fact that there are very few blackouts across this vast country and we take for granted getting light or power with the flick of a switch 24 hours a day, the grid is anything but dumb. It was built exceptionally well. But technology has brought us to a point where we can and should make the grid “smarter”. This entails upgrading all points along the power supply chain, from generation to distribution and eventually to the end user. While smart meters and Google’s software reside only at the downstream, consumer end, their installation and usage is a small but important step in the mammoth and costly undertaking of creating a “smarter grid”.

- Justin Manger

[image source: The New York Times and Google]