+ Plug into the Smart Grid

Last month, Google hosted a panel discussion at their DC Office regarding the future of smart grid technology. Panelists from Google, their partner GE, utilities, and the government discussed how best to utilize the $11 billion (part of the $83 billion of the stimulus allocated to clean technologies) set aside for modernizing our electric grid. The panel also answered questions from the public submitted online. You can watch the entire discussion here.

“What does a world with smart power look like? As Washington develops the road map for a bigger, smarter electricity grid, how can we ensure that it provides every household in America with real-time energy information enables the scale up of hundreds of thousands of megawatts of clean renewable power and supports millions of plug-in cars and trucks?”

Part I: Envisioning smart power
Energy tools and technologies to empower people with information and choice

• Moderator: Bob Gilligan, GE
• Adrian Tuck, CEO, Tendril
• Ron Binz, Chairman, Colorado Public Utilities Commission
• Jeff Renaud, Director, Ecomagination, GE
• Ed Lu, Advanced Projects, Google
• Kelly Speakes-Backman, Principal, RE+GENeration Consultants LLC
• George Bjelovuk, Managing Director, American Electric Power

Part II: Accelerating the energy revolution
State and federal policies to drive smart power

• Moderator: Dan Reicher, Google
• Fred Butler, President, National Association of Regulatory Utility Commissioners
• John Podesta, President, Center for American Progress (invited)
• Andy Karsner, Former Ass. Sec. for Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy, U.S. Department of Energy
• Chris Miller, Office of Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid

On a related note, GE has rolled out an interactive site to help visualize the impact of smart grid implementation. If you have a webcam and access to a printer, you can take advantage of the “augmented reality” portion of the site and see the Smart Grid “come to life in your hands”.