smart grid
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How can clean electrons compete with dirty electrons?
One of the most fundamental challenges facing clean power is that, to put it simply, electrons are electrons. Power from a solar power plant, once it enters the transmission system, is indistinguishable from coal, nuclear, or natural gas power. To the end consumer, it's all just electricity -- or rather, it's all just lights coming on and dishwashers running. Given that, how can consumers be sold on clean electricity?
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Time for climate hawks to take to the hills?
It's time climate hawks heeded the lesson America's revolutionaries learned after they took a few drubbings at the hands of the British Redcoats.
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Understanding the smart meter backlash
The California revolt over smart grids says plenty about the importance of psychology in energy tech. And while protests over radiation and cost ripoffs may be debunk-able, privacy concerns aren't going away quickly.
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China's top-down energy gigantism and a bottom-up American alternative
Instead of envying China for leading on coal plant research, why not focus on what the U.S. does well -- distributed, bottom-up, human-scale innovation?
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The smart grid could help you be smarter about your home electricity use
The smart grid, we?re told, will integrate renewable energy and decentralize power production. But what?s in it for you and me?
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Why we won't have a green energy revolution without the smart grid
The rise of renewable energy and electric cars will vastly complicate how the power grid operates. That means it's going to have to get a lot smarter.
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Cities lead the way in action to halt climate change
The world's cities -- home to more than half of the human population -- are leading the way to a low-carbon future.
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California's smart meter fears
No one said changing our century-old power system into a digital smart grid was easy. But Californias already bogged down in a fight over smart meters
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Renewable energy: the power of positive feedback loops
When you design a national green energy system, the benefits of each part are increased and reverberate through the economy, creating a virtuous cycle