Posted on 06/05/2009 4:20:46 AM PDT by shove_it
Cisco Systems' gear powers much of the Internet, but the company last month made a move to also play a central role in a market it says might be 100 times bigger -- smart grids.
Cisco's not alone. The building of smart grids will be a multitrillion-dollar opportunity for tech companies, industry observers say. The first billions are already starting, thanks in part to the federal stimulus package.
Smart grids combine networked sensors with software to run systems for electricity, transportation, fuel and water.
Inexpensive sensors transmit data over computer networks to do such tasks as reduce energy usage and better move traffic along busy streets.
U.S. utilities alone will spend $1.5 trillion upgrading infrastructure by 2030, says a recent study by research firm the Brattle Group.
Sensors To Permeate Our Lives
Today's powerful, low-cost computer chips and high-speed networks make smart grids feasible. The grid concept is often described as "the Internet of things," said Sam Lucero, an ABI Research analyst.
"Sensors are going into more and more devices that will permeate our lives," Lucero said. "In the next 15 to 20 years, sensors will permeate our infrastructure and monitor the physical environment."
[...]
(Excerpt) Read more at finance.yahoo.com ...
"For example, Stockholm has implemented IBM smart grids to charge usage fees for daytime auto traffic in downtown centers.
Sensors on cars and affixed to trellises built over streets automatically track when cars are using downtown roads at peak times, and drivers are automatically assessed fees that vary by the time of day."
Smart grids are another tool for liberals to control other areas of your life like when your washer is available or to what temperature your house should be maintained.
Another reason to get off the grid!
Is this cyberdyne or skynet?
There is a difference between smart and wise. Some of our best criminals and dictators have been smart.
In order to be smart massive amounts of information must be collected on your use of energy, which means your lifestyle ... when you make coffee, when you watch TV, when you draw your bath, how far you drive to the fast food place at 2 AM for that snack attack.
The next step is not “control of the grid”. The next step is control of your life.
You want to do what? Sorry, the grid won’t let you do it.... It is not your time.
Smart grids can be used for all sorts of crap like that.
Some have said that GE/NBC/MSNBC are in the tank for Obama specifically because GE stands to gain the largest share of the “smart grid” business.
Is it true that GE will suck up all that business?
Lord Zero’s energy secretary has already expressed a wish to be able to turn our A/C down by remote at peak usage hours. (When its needed most)
All I need it to wake up at 3 AM on a -20 degree February morning to find that the government had decided that my furnace was running too much and shut it off.
“Smart grids” as opposed to what, “stupid grids”?
In other words, if YOU are deciding when to use electricity, that is the old, stupid way. We need to become more intelligent and enlightened and hook our homes up to computer systems that can regulate our electricity usage.
This is Big Brother, folks. And it is a communist-type control over how we live our lives.
It's worse than you think. Using technology like Time Domain Reflectometry, among other similar technologies, prying eyes will be able to not only determine how much electricity you are using and when, but what type devices you have in your home and what sort of load they present (resistive, capacitive or inductive) to the grid at any given time. Technology exists right now to do this. Effectively, this is a search of your home without your permission and should be recognized by everyone as a violation of your 4th Amendment rights under the Constitution.
From a freedom loving engineers perspective, this is a very, very bad idea. The abuse that could be levied by such a system will make tactics used by the IRS look pale in comparison.....
I could be the smart grid being used to apply pressure on individuals or who groups of people.
I live in a tiny town that tends to be conservative and politically resistant to change. I could see pressure applied by way of selectively making our energy costs too high. I read FR, smart grid could find that out and automatically pressure me to change that behavior. There are various groups that want my house and all others removed from this stretch of shoreline. Smart grid could be very handy for achieving that goal.
The potential for abuse is just too high to ignore.
Kelo on steroids with no need to bother with the SCOTUS for a ruling. Average folks with little or no understanding of technology have no idea how bad this is going to be. Ever since I first heard of this "smart grid" idea it's got me thinking of how quickly I can switch to an off grid home.
You are absolutely correct. This "smart grid" technology has very little to do with energy and everything to do with control.....however, I can see a cottage industry emerging that will develop blocking technologies to thwart the prying eyes....
Here’s a name for it ...
GRIDBUSTERS!
Long ago and faraway I worked on a Project Tempest site. Think of a Faraday cage squared.
Someday we may want our own personal site.
Funny you should mention a Faraday cage. My background is RF, particularly cellular, PCS, Microwave and SMR, with some military stuff here and there. I've spent a lot of time in a Faraday cage. Several years ago I came up with an idea for a device that would create "cell phone resistant" areas by jamming carrier signals. This product could be used to eliminate cell phone use in churches, schools, doctor's offices, restaurants, any private area you didn't want folks yakking on a cell phone. I started looking at patenting the idea, but quickly realized I would not only be prohibited by the FCC from implementing such a device, but I would also likely be sued into oblivion for creating a device that ran contrary to network agreements with their customers.
I can see something like this working to fend off prying eyes from the so-called "smart grid" though.....
Ditto to everything said so far. This is potentially Big Brother on steroids. But it also would make us even more vulnerable than we already are to an electromagnetic pulse attack by terrorists or unfriendly countries.
One strike and we’d all be freezing to death in the dark.
Another major problem could be software bugs and the inevitable breakdown of complicated systems. What happens if the system goes down, or if hackers run a denial of service attack on it? Will your refrigerator or furnace disconnect from the system and function manually, or will it turn off? Not entirely predictable, I suspect.
Smart grids cement the fascistic relationship between these companies and the government. Do you want corporations to be making deals with the government absent any input or contract from the citizens , to place more controls on us? To tax us more with fees and fines? Clearly they are out to circumvent the constitution and and constitutional controls that citizens would tender.
Here are three things that ought to make everyone sick to their stomach:
1. Smart Grid
2. GE (who own NBC)
3. Obama
Guess who plans on making a killing if this dreaded Crap and Tax law gets passed?
All of the above.
GE will be given carte blanche to design the Smart Grid for America’a power where the Keepers of the Energy, Secretary Chu and President Boo-Boo, will decide who goes and who stops, who gets light and who goes dark, who cools and who fries, who cooks and who starves, who exhales CO2 and who doesn’t.
All in the name of Progress-ives.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.