Agencies seek path to smarter energy use
The Navy is leading the way with an ambitious program aimed at real-time tracking of consumption.
You can't fault President Obama for a lack of ambition. Besides planning to overhaul the health care and public education systems, rebuild aging infrastructure, and wean the country from its addiction to fossil fuels, the new administration intends to retool the engine that powers the entire economy-the electricity grid. If the nation were an ailing patient in a hospital intensive care unit, that would be the equivalent of conducting a bone marrow transplant, a couple of hip replacements and a blood transfusion.
Most stakeholders agree that expanding the capacity of the electric grid is contingent upon improving its efficiency. But you first need to know how you're using energy -- not just where it's going in a particular building, but when energy is being consumed in relation to other users and to the cost of generation.
Energy Department officials and others maintain that broadly applying what's called advanced metering infrastructure is a fundamental early step in modernizing the grid. AMI is not a single technology but the integration of multiple digital technologies that create an intelligent, two-way connection between consumers and electricity system operators.
Some utilities have installed advanced metering systems in targeted metropolitan areas, but none has attempted anything as extensive as what the Navy is hoping to accomplish during the next three years. By creating a global network of advanced, two-way meters, service leaders expect to gather the data necessary to significantly cut energy use, incorporate more renewable energy production, and better manage the service's consumption in relation to fluctuating prices and production levels.
In the March issue of Government Executive, Katherine McIntire Peters reports on how the Navy and other federal agencies are paving the way for the development of the smart grid.