News & Media

Green Broadband
Power distribution and broadband are not generally considered to go hand-in-hand in the effort to have America become more energy efficient, but they do.
As part of the federal government’s stimulus package, President Obama requested money for the Department of Energy (DoE) to fund smart grid demonstration projects. In October, 2009, the DoE announced the first round of projects which amounted to $3.4 billion for the installation of smart meters in homes. In fact the grants will allow utilities to install 18 million smart meters to about 13 percent of the nation’s homes.
Smart meters will allow utilities to monitor power usage on a house-by-house basis and will allow customers to do things like raise or lower household temperatures, water heaters, and start washing machines and dishwashers at times of the day when power use is not a peak.
Power needs follow the sun. When families on the East coast are waking and using power for showers, breakfast, and household lighting; families on the West coast are still fast asleep. As the sun moves west, the power needs shift with it. At night, the sequence reverses itself; when East coast families are “powering down” for the night, many West coast families are doing the evening dishes and doing a few loads of laundry.
A fully-implemented smart grid will allow power companies to shift power very efficiently from where it is being produced – whether at a coal-fired power plant in Beverly, Ohio; a wind farm in central Oklahoma, or a solar array in New Mexico – to where it is needed, when it is needed.
The DoE’s grants last Fall included new transformers to be able to utilize new technologies to help power companies begin that process.
The smart grid will utilize broadband technologies which means homes must have the capacity to connect to the internet via a high-speed link. Many smaller communities in Ohio and elsewhere are attempting to improve the availability of broadband to their residents and businesses in conjunction with the major network providers.
This effort is generally known as “the last mile” although it may actually be the “last 20 yards” between a fiber optic line down the middle of the street and a home or business. In urban areas the “last mile” is likely to be readily available and the homeowner need only call the cable or phone company to be connected. In rural areas, where the distance between homes can be great, there may have to be additional government grants to get those houses and businesses connected via broadband.
Much of the national electrical grid is exactly the same as it was when Thomas Edison helped design it. Modern technology can provide better service at a lower price – both in terms of money and in terms of air and water quality. Broadband is crucial to helping us get there.
Jim McGregor
Executive Director

Time to Rebuild America

Infrastructure comprises the basic structures and facilities needed for a society to operate, and as America’s infrastructure weakens, we have seen our society’s operations falter. From crumbling bridges to major blackouts, America’s infrastructure is outdated and desperately in need of repair. New technologies have transformed the ways in which we work, communicate and play. But the underlying support system for these activities—our infrastructure—is still overwhelmingly obsolete, sustained by technologies developed generations ago. Businesses run on electricity, and tomorrow’s businesses will need cheaper, cleaner, and more reliable power than ever before.

President Obama’s Economic Recovery and Reinvestment plan recognizes that by investing in a major upgrade of America’s infrastructure, we can both jumpstart our economy and strengthen it in the long-term. His plan will create hundreds of thousands of jobs today building infrastructure for tomorrow. Those who oppose this plan fail to recognize that it is timely, achievable, and overwhelmingly popular. Passing the House of Representatives yesterday with broad support is a first step towards implementing these important programs.

On January 8, 2009, a Gallup poll on public attitudes towards a stimulus package found the single most popular aspect of a stimulus plan is government spending on infrastructure. Americans of every party and every ideology support creating jobs by investing in our infrastructure. Last week, Republican pollster Frank Luntz’s survey found that an almost unanimous 94% of Americans want government investments in our nation’s infrastructure. Those polled rated fixing energy facilities as the highest priority.

Manufacturing our own electricity by building a new smart grid reliant on renewable energy will save us money and protect us from devastating blackouts. The blackout of August 2003 cost this country over $6 billion, according to the Electricity Consumers Resource Council. As our current grid ages, we can expect blackouts of increasing frequency and devastating effect. A new smart grid will prevent that eventuality.

The American Recovery and Reinvestment Plan proposes we build 3,000 miles of new transmission lines to help tap boundless clean energy sources and and meet growing demand. Modernizing utilities with a new smart grid built in an environmentally responsible manner that safeguards our natural resources will optimize transmission and open new markets for domestic energy production, allowing our country to generate its own energy through solar, wind and other renewable energy sources. Imagine just a third of the $400 billion we spent importing oil in 2008 staying within our own borders, and in our own pockets instead of thousands of miles away enriching other nations.

Meanwhile, the demand from large-scale commercial deployment of a smart grid will encourage manufacturing investment, lower energy costs through volume and lead to the commercialization of advanced technologies. The President’s plan seeks to double alternative energy production over the next three years. Whole new industries will be developed right here at home and keep us competitive in the world’s clean energy markets.

The Recovery and Reinvestment plan will modernize 75% of government buildings and improve two million homes with energy efficient technologies. This will save us billions of dollars on energy bills. Over 50% of energy is wasted in the transmission process according to the U.S. Energy Information Administration. Rebuilding for energy efficiency is the cheapest, cleanest, and fastest way to save energy and will employ Americans in jobs that pay well and can’t be outsourced.

These investments will help jumpstart our economy immediately and address crucial long-term needs to ensure that our economy remains strong. We need to let Congress know we support investing in new energy for America and rebuilding our economy for the 21^st century. This is not a partisan issue. Americans are showing broad support for the Economic Recovery and Reinvestment Act because they realize it as a needed down payment on rebuilding and repowering for our future.

Time to Rebuild America

Ohio is rich in the potential for alternative energy.  Farms, landfills and sewage treatment plants are planning, installing and operating methane collectors. From their waste, they are producing electricity.  We are just beginning to tap this source of abundant electricity.  Land wind is moving ahead and solar panels are being installed on BP fuel Station canopies and Wal-Mart roofs.  Fuel cells are on the verge of large-scale production and geo-thermal heating and cooling systems are selling well.  New sources of clean burning Natural Gas are being discovered and brought on line.  But Ohio has one gargantuan resource that we are ignoring.  Ohio’s greatest opportunity is singular; no one else in the world has the great gift of shallow water, high wind and public ownership.

Lake Erie encompasses almost 10,000 square miles of water, virtually all of it owned by the people of Ohio.  It is shallow, with average depths of 24 feet in the western basin, 60 feet in the Central Basin and 80 feet in the Eastern Basin.  Other lakes in the world are deep.  Such depths are not friendly to affordable wind turbines.  But Lake Erie is regularly 30 feet deep.  This depth is amenable to present technology.  Lake Erie is fresh water and therefore does not have the problem of corrosive salt like our seas.  Since Lake Erie is shallow throughout, Ohio does not have to build close to the shoreline.  Building far from shore abates the concerns of the shore community.  Studies show that Lake Erie has some of the best wind potential in the United States. Texas proudly has over 2000 wind turbines. Lake Erie has room for over 3,000 huge wind turbines capable of pollution free electric production.

The Eastern United States needs electricity.  The market is growing.  It will be supplied.  If Ohio does not serve this market, states to the west of us will.  Ohio can reap prosperity from aggressively developing our clean, carbon free, electric generating capacity.  Or, we will continue to lose jobs and wealth as multiple massive electric distribution lines cross our state to connect the eastern market with western clean energy.  It is a time for strong leadership in Ohio. It is a time for decisions.

Jim McGregor
Director
The Ohio League of Conservation Voters