as part of that effort, gadh’s team is using the ucla campus — in particular, boelter hall and the engineering iv and v buildings — as an experimental lab to observe how wireless sensing and control systems can help create the smart grid. they are retrofitting these structures with cutting-edge sensors and smart meters that can, for example, gauge and adjust the amount of power needed in a room at a particular time of day and control appliances, lights, and heating and air-conditioning systems depending on energy pricing or power availability on the grid.

learn more about professor gadh’s work in this video about the ucla smart grid energy research center.

we talked to quadlogic controls corporation (qlc), based in new york city, which is a small business that produces these devices. smart meters are conduits that allow for communication between utilities and consumers. they enable customers to monitor their electricity usage in real time. smart meters make individuals and businesses responsible for the cost of electricity use, which can lead to smarter, greener, and more sustainable decisions.

our piece focuses on illuminating the ways in which blind energy usage contributes to overall habits of energy waste, and how empowering consumers with a means of literally itemizing their energy usage can reverse this effect.

– charles pulliam-moore and sayre swarztrauber

our flagship effort is the pecan street demonstration, a smart grid research project in austin’s mueller community.

the initiative began in 2008 as a community collaboration to spark the nascent “smart grid” market in austin the way that the mcc and sematech consortia sparked the region’s semiconductor and information technology sectors a generation ago.

representatives of the founding members – the city of austin, austin energy, the university of texas, the austin technology incubator, the greater austin chamber of commerce and environmental defense fund – enlisted the participation of nearly a dozen private companies to explore the technical, economic and policy implications of an energy system that relies on better energy efficiency, locally generated renewable energy and a new economic model for electricity utilities.

their idea is to take non-essential electricity use off the grid to de-stress the system. and so they are building a network of large power users (businesses, schools, institutions, hospitals, governments, etc.), installing smart energy-management meters and monitors, and working with them to assess how much energy they can curtail on demand during those rare demand response events. in effect they are building virtual plants and in the process preventing blackouts and brownouts in regions all across the country. more info here: http://www.nicholas.duke.edu/main/dukenvironment/sp11/brewster