Illinois Tells Utilitites to Prove Smart Grid Benefits or Pay

The Illinois state legislature recently passed a bill requiring utilities to prove they can deliver on the promises they made regarding Smart Grid projects in the state. It will still allow the utilities to add a $3 per month charge to consumers' bills, but if they fail to meet certain benchmarks in the areas of reduced outages, energy theft, and inactive meters, the state will assess them penalties. It also places requirements on utilities to reduce estimated billing by 90 percent, and bad debt and unpaid bills by $30 million. Failure to meet the goals established in the bill will result in financial penalties, including a portion of their profits. Illinois is the first state to tie financial penalties to Smart Grid projects and their smart meter systems. To read the full article, go to http://www.greentechmedia.com/articles/read/illinois-to-smart-grid-prove-youre-worth-it-or-pay/

Cloud Computing and Energy Efficiency

I read an article this weekend discussing reasons that there has been a rising interest in cloud computing from businesses and why it will continue to do so in 2012. Of note in the article is the mention of energy efficiency being one of the drivers for the push to this technology.

"Energy Savings Power Better Business and the Greater Good – Energy efficiency, especially a reduction in CO2 emissions reductions, will be a key imperative for many companies. In 2012, companies will take advantage of public-private partnerships to invest in everything from more efficient lighting to energy-efficient heating ventilation and air conditioning systems, to installing energy-efficient technologies.

It is also more likely that they will begin to investigate flexible computing models – like the cloud - that leverage on-demand capacity for peak loads, while powering down during periods of lesser demand."

-Source: Why Cloud Computing will come of Age in 2012 by David Howorth, Regional VP Verizon IT Services