ELECTRANET!

Exciting idea. Ties into the Austin, Texas, idea called Plug-In Partners.

Electranet could see light of day; ‘Smart grid’ technology coming into real world
Lisa Friedman, March 26, 2007 (Los Angeles Daily News)

WHO
Al Gore

WHAT
Electranet, a decentralized "smart grid" that would allow anyone to set up their own generator and trade in electricity. Despite resistance from utilities and sluggish state bureaucracies, the groundwork is developing for newly designed distribution grids. California has moved to decouple utility revenues from sales. Customers can now get credit for generating their own solar energy.

WHEN
Perhaps as soon as a decade from now, with changes already beginning.

WHERE
Developments in California lead the nation.

WHY
- Digitalization of the electricity grid is overdue. Such a “smart grid” would eliminate the need for new-generation plants, spark widespread use of renewable energy and, ultimately, beat back global warming.
- A system that allows your dishwasher or refrigerator to sense changes in the power grid and automatically reduce electricity consumption, or let homeowners see how many kilowatts of electricity they are using at any given minute and adjust their use accordingly is a system that allows greater efficiency and conservation.
- Flexibility in the grid will allow the development of renewable but potentially inconsistent energies such as solar and wind.

QUOTES
- "In the same way the Internet took off and stimulated the information revolution, we could see a revolution all across this country with small-scale generation of electricity everywhere," Gore told a House committee on climate change last week.
- "What Gore is talking about is not fantasy," said Joe Ramallo, spokesman for the LADWP.