A Call for an Energy Revolution
Newsletter Article
A call for an energy...
If we don’t plan for our energy future now, there will be Hell to pay tomorrow.
That’s why UCAN has co-funded an in-depth study by the University of San Diego’s Energy Policy Initiatives Center (EPIC). This authoritative study, which will be supported by documentation from the independent and highly respected SAIC think-tank, examines the deployment of an integrated “smart grid” in the San Diego Gas & Electric service area. A smart grid will revolutionize the way you think about and use utility services, including your phone service. Simply, a smart grid is one of the first vital steps toward using new technology to declare energy and utility independence for San Diego.
Imagine a system where ...
– You get solar electricity from your roof and you sell any
unused power to SDG&E at the going hourly rate.
– You have access to cheap Internet & wireless phone
services carried over power lines.
– You have control of your energy costs with the
ability to view the hourly cost of the energy you use.
– You can lower your bills with “smart appliances”
that can adjust their power consumption based
on the hourly price of electricity.
The genesis of the report is UCAN’s conviction that San Diego needs to completely re-wire and rethink the way it uses and distributes utility services. UCAN funded the study to provide the local and state policymakers with an objective analysis of San Diego’s energy situation. The final SAIC report will likely confirm that a “smart grid” modernization is cost-effective and practical for San Diego.
In opposing SDG&E’s advanced meter deployment (See Billion Dollar Burn, page 3), UCAN has maintained that SDG&E should have pursued distribution modernization in a more comprehensive and thoughtful manner. SDG&E’s distribution grid is a system, not just in the technical sense, but also in the geopolitical, regulatory, economic, and consumer services aspects. SDG&E’s Advanced Meter Initiative (AMI) proposal is too focused upon a particular concern or policy and has not adequately applied a systems’ view to its initiative. SDG&E would have benefited tremendously from having considered the findings of the EPIC study before unveiling its AMI, but it chose not to wait.
If SDG&E attempted to integrate some of the new, emerging grid technologies into a system-based grid upgrade, it may have overcome the serious problems that have made the proposal too costly.
These, and other energy issues, will be the focus of an Energy Summit to be held in San Diego on October 25-26, 2006. The University of San Diego will be hosting a two-day conference on a “smart energy grid” concept for San Diego.
It will feature presentations by legislators, regulators, utility representatives, engineers and UCAN’s Executive Director.
UCAN has also filed voluminous documents with CPUC including comments on the Commission’s BPL OII (I. 05-09-006). More information about this very important event can be found at www.sandiego.edu/epic.
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