Conversations for a Smarter Planet
Smarter power
for a smarter planet.
For most of the last century, our electrical grids were a
symbol of progress. The inexpensive, abundant power they
brought changed the way the world worked — filling homes,
streets, businesses, towns and cities with energy.
But today’s electrical grids reflect a time when energy was
cheap, their impact on the natural environment wasn’t a
priority and consumers weren’t even part of the equation.
Back then, the power system could be centralized, closely
managed and supplied by a relatively small number of
large power plants. It was designed to distribute power in
one direction only —not to manage a dynamic global network
of energy supply and demand.
As a result of inefficiencies in this system, the world’s creation
and distribution of electric power is wasteful. With little or
no intelligence to balance loads or monitor power flows,
enough electricity is lost annually to power India, Germany
and Canada for an entire year. If the U.S. grid alone were
just 5% more efficient, it would be like permanently
eliminating the fuel and greenhouse gas emissions from
53 million cars. Billions of dollars are wasted generating
energy that never reaches a single lightbulb.
Fortunately, our energy can be made smart. It can be
managed like the complex global system it is.
We can now instrument everything from the meter in the
home to the turbines in the plants to the network itself. In
fact, the intelligent utility system actually looks a lot more
like the Internet than like a traditional grid. It can be linked
to thousands of power sources—including climate-friendly
ones such as wind and solar. All of this instrumentation then
generates new data, which advanced analytics can turn
into insight, so that better decisions can be made in real
time. Decisions by individuals and businesses on how
they can consume more efficiently. Decisions by utility
companies on how they can better manage delivery and
balance loads. Decisions by governments and societies on
how to preserve our environment. The whole system can
become more efficient, reliable, adaptive...smart.
Smart grid projects are already helping consumers save
10% on their bills and are reducing peak demand by 15%.
Imagine the potential savings when this is scaled to include
companies, government agencies and universities. And
imagine the economic stimulus that an investment in
smarter grids could provide in America’s current crisis.
Actually, there’s no need for imagination. The investment
now being shaped in Washington could yield almost a
quarter of a million jobs in digitizing the grid and in related
industries such as alternative energy and automotive. It
could enable new forms of industrial innovation by creating
exportable skills, resources and technology.
IBM scientists and industry experts are working on smart
energy solutions around the world. We’re working with utility
companies globally to accelerate the adoption of smart
grids to help make them more reliable and give customers
better usage information. We’re working on seven of the
world’s ten largest automated meter management projects.
We’re even exploring how to harness intermittent wind
power by turning millions of future electric vehicles into
a distributed storage system.
Our electrical grids can be a symbol of progress again —
if we imbue the entire system with intelligence. And we can.
Let’s build a smarter planet. Join us and see what others
are thinking at ibm.com/think
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