I have direct experience in this space and I'll share my reflections as they seem pertinent here.
Last year I started development on a very similar idea. I wanted to create a social network of people's energy consumption. The object was to give people near real time feedback of their consumption, and tailor specific products to them based on some surveys (i.e how old is your dryer or home?). If people are cognizant of their neighbor's consumption, the research has shown that their consumption will decrease as well.
I also joined our local energy advisory committee and worked with the local utility on energy policy issues.
Here are some of the lesser known hurdles in this space:
- First, energy consumption data is VERY hard to get. Florida is the only state that I know of that does not have a privacy law. For example, if you call up your local utility and ask for your neighbor's consumption, they will tell you to get lost. In Florida, this is not necessarily true with municipalities. If Google can get access to this data, they will have a powerful and unfair competitive advantage.
- Demand-side management is a big priority for utilities. They spend tens of millions a year and get pitched by companies with better energy management software all the time. There is always room for improvement. Utilities want peak power reduced, as it raises costs for their customers. This is the idea behind smart-grid, and if utilities can get access to a software that evolves with the smart meters, they will invest heavily in that architecture.
Google will essentially solve the power management debate. They have the infrastructure and the incentive, as consumption information will be a prized commodity, which only they will be able to get access.
For example, if you call up your local utility and ask for your neighbor's consumption, they will tell you to get lost.
Duh. Some kind of opt-in is going to be required for other people's data. The bigger problem is that if you call up the utility and ask for your own power data from your smart meter they will tell you to get lost, because even though they have the data they have no software that can send it to you.
[Google] have the infrastructure and the incentive, as consumption information will be a prized commodity, which only they will be able to get access.
Unfortunately, this is probably right, although Google says they're going to make it open: "We believe that detailed data on your personal energy use belongs to you, and should be available in an open standard, non-proprietary format. You should control who gets to see your data, and you should be free to choose from a wide range of services to help you understand it and benefit from it."
(Note: I'm assuming that smart meters are a solved problem. I already have one.)
I am not sure why consumption information is kept private. In Florida you can get this pretty freely for public utilities and I have not heard of any issues because of it.
Smart meters do not come without some controversy. They are expensive and it has not been shown the cost can be offset by the variable rates. This is why my utility has them implemented on a voluntary basis
For example, if you call up your local utility and ask for your neighbor's consumption, they will tell you to get lost. If Google can get access to this data, they will have a powerful and unfair competitive advantage.
Most utility companies don't know what your energy usage is until a guy comes out and looks at your meter. What Google is doing is developing a web interface for more intelligent meters which are being rolled out with Obama's stimulus package.
Yes. But this cost is passed on to customers ultimately. Utilities have to build new power plants, and if the plants are for peak generation, they are ridiculously expensive (they turn on quickly).
Peak demand can be met in several ways, one of the best - and cheapest - to pump water up from one lake to another when demand is low, reverse the flow when demand is high. One example is in Scotland, Loch Cruachan aka the hollow mountain.
to pump water up from one lake to another when demand is low, reverse the flow when demand is high
I can't imagine that being an efficient way to store electrical energy... sure, it's cheaper than huge batteries, but what's the % of the energy retained?
That's the whole point right, the efficiency is much larger than any other (known) storage device. Shutting down or variying the power output of a nuke or some other thermal generator is an expensive and time consuming operation, if you can use that power to pump water up a hill that's essentially 'free'.
The actual conversion ratio is much less interesting than the speed with which you can bring that power online when you need it, in this case from 'spinning reserve' to 50% in less than 30 seconds and full load in under 3 minutes. Very few other power generating plants can make such enormous jumps in power output in such a short time.
Typically such installations are about 70% efficient, 80% on the 'up' leg and 90% on the down leg, and though that may not sound very efficient the picture changes if you realize that this is essentially energy that would otherwise be wasted.
Last year I started development on a very similar idea. I wanted to create a social network of people's energy consumption. The object was to give people near real time feedback of their consumption, and tailor specific products to them based on some surveys (i.e how old is your dryer or home?). If people are cognizant of their neighbor's consumption, the research has shown that their consumption will decrease as well.
I also joined our local energy advisory committee and worked with the local utility on energy policy issues.
Here are some of the lesser known hurdles in this space:
- First, energy consumption data is VERY hard to get. Florida is the only state that I know of that does not have a privacy law. For example, if you call up your local utility and ask for your neighbor's consumption, they will tell you to get lost. In Florida, this is not necessarily true with municipalities. If Google can get access to this data, they will have a powerful and unfair competitive advantage.
- Demand-side management is a big priority for utilities. They spend tens of millions a year and get pitched by companies with better energy management software all the time. There is always room for improvement. Utilities want peak power reduced, as it raises costs for their customers. This is the idea behind smart-grid, and if utilities can get access to a software that evolves with the smart meters, they will invest heavily in that architecture.
Google will essentially solve the power management debate. They have the infrastructure and the incentive, as consumption information will be a prized commodity, which only they will be able to get access.