Smart Power – Climate Change, the Smart Grid, and the Future of Electric Utilities by Peter Fox-Penner. Island Press (). Review by Diana.
Table of contents
Feb 02, Thomas Deetjen rated it it was amazing. If you are interested in renewable energy, distributed generation, and other hot energy topics, "Smart Power" has a lot to offer you. While it doesn't spend much time discussing the merits of different energy technologies, it gives an excellent introduction to the electric utilities industry and many convincing arguments of why an understanding of the utilities industry is an important facet to your ability to participate in the clean energy debate.
Chronologically, the author discusses the history, current status, and potential future trajectories of the power market. Technologically, the author explains modern generation and transmission strategies, and the future economic, regulatory, and technology scenarios that could occur. I found the book to be mostly unbiased. The author envisions a number of future scenarios, and while he does discuss his opinion about the most likely turn of events, he leaves enough uncertainty to lend credibility to other options.
May 03, Raisa rated it it was amazing Shelves: I started reading Smart Power to understand the basics of the electricity system and came away with a much more sophisticated understanding than I anticipated as a neophyte in the subject matter.
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Context, issues, and players are presented clearly without diminishing the complex relationships amongst each other. Would highly recommend to others who are interested in learning more about how the electricity system works, its origins, and present challenges. Some projections Fabulously written book!
Some projections are out of date, but the focus on addressing climate change and energy security needs remain. Given the history and current operations, it is astonishing how reliable the grid is despite its organic growth and multitude of business models. A lot of work remains to be done!
Jul 31, Nancy rated it really liked it. I learned a lot in Parts I and II of this book. Part 3 contains broad outlines of how everything could fall into place: There's a great emphasis on economics in this book, in particular, increasing the market efficiency of power sales by having more dynamic pricing, and restructuring market incentives for utilities to sell less power and sell more power usage efficiency. I am skeptical of a miracle technology to deliver us from our future energy needs, so I am hopeful, as the author suggests to me, that a combined policy and incentives change is the "low-hanging fruit solution" we could have implemented easily years ago.
Jun 21, Pierre rated it really liked it. Fox-Penner steps through the key points in electric utility regulatory history to show just how nuanced and complex the challenge is in upgrading our electricity generation and delivery-distribution system for the decades ahead. He provides a clear set of scenarios and logical arguments in describing both the legal, institutional and technological shifts that will need to happen In order to transform our current electric utility system into one that is environmentally sustainable, resource-effic Fox-Penner steps through the key points in electric utility regulatory history to show just how nuanced and complex the challenge is in upgrading our electricity generation and delivery-distribution system for the decades ahead.
He provides a clear set of scenarios and logical arguments in describing both the legal, institutional and technological shifts that will need to happen In order to transform our current electric utility system into one that is environmentally sustainable, resource-efficient, and reliable. Nov 02, Rishi Garg rated it it was ok Shelves: I wish the author spent more time discussing the Smart Integrator Model and Energy Services Utility model - those are both innovative concepts and deserve further explanation.
My concern is that the content of much of the rest of the book is the stuff of electric stakeholder process - discussed every day in those process; but also, that it takes a good year within those processes to understand the concepts described in this book. Jun 04, Jaime rated it really liked it Shelves: I really had no idea how the electricity came to be in the magic boxes scattered throughout my house until I read this. I now have a greater understanding and appreciation of the process and infrastructure that powers daily life.
Recommend to anyone wanting a basic understanding of our system and the ways in which it is changing to be "smarter" and how we can help it do just that. Feb 10, Eric Senunas rated it it was amazing. This is a smart book by one of the better minds in the industry.
If you want to understand what is transitioning from a staid, boring industry to the one that will shape the 21st century, this is the place to start Aug 15, Audrey rated it liked it Shelves: Ok, so I didn't actually finish this book, go figure. It is very helpful in explaining electric utilities but I think it's best as a reference book instead of a straight read through.
I'll keep it on my desk at work and flip through the chapters when I need them. Jan 24, James Davis rated it really liked it. Jan 12, Inara Scott rated it it was amazing. Manages to take on the complex electric power system without getting bogged down in industry terminology or wonky language and scenarios. This is an interesting book on electricity, but I can't say that I completely understood all of it.
I think it would be good to use as a reference, but not really for casual reading. Aug 18, Andrew Bray rated it it was amazing. Really good insight into the factors at play in the electric energy grid and integrating renewables. Matt rated it really liked it Nov 18, Dan Tennant rated it did not like it Jul 15, Mira rated it it was amazing Oct 12, Leron Lehman rated it really liked it Oct 05, StratoNine rated it liked it Jul 18, Farhad Farahmand rated it it was amazing Oct 10, Leon Lahoud rated it liked it Aug 23, Katie rated it really liked it Feb 12, Mike Della rated it it was amazing Jan 03, Olaf Groth rated it really liked it Aug 07, Amy rated it liked it Jul 24, Alex Lopez rated it it was amazing Mar 05, AJ Howard rated it really liked it Feb 26, Amanda rated it really liked it Jun 02, There are no discussion topics on this book yet.
Peter Fox-Penner, principal and chairman emeritus, specializes in economic, regulatory, and strategic issues in network industries. His practice centers on energy and environmental policies and electric regulatory planning and competition issues. I ride my bike. I take mass transit. Most days my car never leaves the spot in front of our home. Most importantly, I have sworn off beef because of cattle production's disproportionate climate impact.
The grass-fed, humane burger still has a siren song, but I ignore it. My greatest carbon sin is my wood burning fireplace. We just installed a 12 KW solar array on our home in New Hampshire. At the same time, we electrified our heating system with Mitsubishi heat pumps. So our home is now net positive from both an electricity and heating point of view. We made the solar array large enough to also power an electric car, but are waiting for the new models that will have more range before we install the electric car charger.
The array and heat pumps have great economics. Great idea for retirement budgets! Besides voting for climate-conscious candidates, the most important thing we can do as individuals is fly less, so I try to take the train where possible. I wish it were a better option. Photo by Bernal Saborio , used under Creative Commons licensing. The United States is the second largest emitter of greenhouse gases behind China, and how we produce food in this country is responsible for much of those emissions.
From agriculture, to the fossil fuels needed to produce bags and boxes for pre-packaged food, to the burning of gas and oil to transport both fresh produce and pre-packaged food, I have discovered I can reduce my carbon footprint with a simple change in my diet. For one, I avoid processed food of any sort. I also grow a good portion of my vegetables and herbs and, thankfully, local parks with publicly accessible fruit trees provide a modicum of fresh fruit for my family. We also eat less meat than we used to and our bodies and our planet are healthier because of it.
I try to put on warm slippers or other extra layers around the house in order to not have to heat the house so much, but I still like to take long hot showers. Maybe those two things are connected. I try to pay attention to my daily habits that make up a lot of my carbon footprint. So I bike to work, or take mass transit.
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That gets rid of the carbon footprint of driving. I have to travel once or twice a month for my job, and unless it is a trip in the Northeast when I can just use Amtrak! The carbon footprint of all that air travel is huge. I try to do virtual meetings, rather than travel whenever I can, but there still seems to be a big premium people place on meeting folks face to face. We keep our heat really low in the winter ask our teenage daughter, it's way too cold for her here! I should also hang my clothes in the winter too, and ditch the dryer.
We both live in a town-house in the central part of a city — on opposite sides of the continent: We wrote our book using email and Dropbox. What they still need to work on is using less air travel in the future.
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A gradual increase will happen in the coming years. As in most other countries in the developed world, too much meat is on the daily diet. That is absolutely not favorable for the carbon footprint. It sounds like more salad is called for in the future! Photo by Katja Wagner , used under Creative Commons licensing. Practical Steps for Low Carbon Living provides a roadmap for consumers to cut their carbon footprint 20 percent or more.
My approach to lowering my carbon footprint has gone hand in hand with saving money through sensible upgrades. Soon after I purchase my year-old house I added insulation, weather stripping and a programmable thermostat. When I needed a new furnace, I swapped a dirty oil furnace to a cleaner, high-efficiency natural gas model. And now have LED bulbs in every fixture in the house, Energy Star appliances throughout, and power strips at my entertainment and computer areas.
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This summer, I finally installed solar panels through a year lease zero out-of-pocket expense. In the month of September, I had zero emissions from electricity use.
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Living in the city, I am fortunate to have access to public transportation and biking, which keeps our household driving to a minimum. Right now I travel too much, especially by air. Our family has a small car but I cycle pretty much all of the time.