My New Smart Meter by Tony Green

The time had finally come. I never thought I would see the day. I received a letter from PG&E few weeks back stating someone would be installing a smart meter in our home. I was skeptical in light of the economy it somehow would fail to happen.

The old meter monitored the amount of electricity you used in kilowatt Hours and used this to determine your bill every month.

The new meter would allow, in addition, to measuring power but enable renewable energy sources such as Wind, Solar, and Plug-In vehicles to provide power back to the electric grid.

The installer arrived at my house and informed me they would be securing power temporarily to install the meter and would knock on the door to let me know prior to shutting off the power.

I am been reading in print and electronic media that these Smart Meters will be the wave of the future revolutionizing the method power is used and consumed. They will be required if the enormous potential of renewable energy would be fulfilled. The adoption of technology which changes lives often takes a long amount of time to transpire.

In fact, Electric charging stations were in the process of being installed in nearby San Jose which would enable Electric Vehicle to power up in the same fashion car acquire fuel at filling stations. This is an important hurdle that must be cleared it all Vehicles powered by batteries are going to gain widespread adoption.

Perhaps these events signal the beginning of the energy independent future we have dreamed of?

For now, I needed to stop visualizing about possibilities of the future. I hear a knock at the door. Perhaps the time to make alternative energy a reality is here at last.

Biofuel, where are you? by Tony Green

According to the 2009 Clean Energy Trends report on Cleantrends.com the top three types of alternative energy in regards to investment are wind, solar, and bio-fuels (Ethanol and biodiesel). Global revenue expanded from 78.5 billion in 2007 to 115.9 billion in 2008.

I found this interesting because over the past few months I have stumbled upon many stories in the off and on line media about solar and wind power.

For instance, the oil tycoon Boone Pickens is a big proponent of wind power and how this power source can reduce our dependency on foreign oil. Solar power is being promoted as the latest great technology as the Solar PV market recent passed the 4 GW point in terms of global installations. Many news stories have been written about the bright future of the solar panel industry.

A shortage of stories seems to exist about the bio-fuel industry in general and more specifically bio-fuels companies. Example most people can point out who are the large wind turbine manufactures are and who the dominant solar companies, however, there is a small amount of publicity of the bio fuel outside of the clean energy family.

The market numbers as reported in the 2009 Clean Trends report indicate the market for bio-fuels was larger than solar. The market value in 2008 for wind power was 51 billion dollars, 28 billion dollars for solar, and finally, 34 billion dollars for bio-fuel.

I suspect that the coverage of bio-fuel may increase as the result of the stimulus bill and private investment into bio-fuels which many drive enough bio-fuel facilities, particularly ethanol, to produce enough volume to begin to factor into the overall renewable energy picture.

Only then will the bio-fuels industry take its rightful place alongside the other technologies as drivers of the upcoming clean economy. You heard it here first.

Image courtesy of U.S. Department of Energy Genome Programs at http://genomics.energy.gov.