Google's Energy Plan for America

[Bravo]

i like this suggestion the best:

We also need to give the American people opportunities to be more efficient. The way we buy electricity today is like going to a store without seeing prices: we pick what we want, and receive an unintelligible bill at the end of the month. When homes are equipped with smart meters and real-time pricing, research shows that energy use typically drops. Google is looking at ways that we can use our information technology and our reach to help increase awareness and bring better, real-time information to consumers.

and this:

Imagine driving a car that uses no gas and is less expensive to recharge than buying a latte. A "smart grid" allows you to charge when electricity is cheap, and maybe even make some money by selling unused power back to the grid when it's needed.

http://blog.google.org/2008/10/clean-energy-2030.html

[whistlelock]

What did they say during the New York blackout? First World nation with a Third World power grid?

[Takvah]

Great idea, I'd love to tell the kids, "When that meter hits $200 it's The Flinstones around this here hut!"

[Joe270]

Google, a company with decades of experience in the energy sector.

Most high school sophomores could have done better than that.

http://www.treehugger.com/files/2008/06/texas-smart-meters-grid-oncor-electricity.php

Texas utility Oncor is working with Swiss smart-meter company Landis+Gyr to roll out 3 million advanced meters by 2012. The bill is expected to be $690 million dollars, and will be first paid by customers (directly or indirectly),

$690 million?!? Nevada power is buying a 484 watt power plant for $684 million, and another 562 watt power plant for $510 million.

but over time it will more than pay for itself in electricity savings and a reduced need to built new power plants.

Not necessarily. The assumption is that people will change their habits. Maybe a few folks in Texas are dumb enough to leave their A/C units cranking while they are off at work all day, but most folks already know that's a huge waste of money.

The reality is that those folks who run their A/C units during the day do so because they are at home, like retirees and the unemployed. The smart meters will shift the burden of payment to those least able to pay.

Another large draw on daytime power are pool pumps, but running those during the nighttime doesn't work to reduce algae build-up, so that won't change.

I'm no fan of NV power, but it seems smarter to invest in increasing supply than shifting the burden of payment.