Siemens kicks off six-city 'Smart Grid Tour' to educate America

In an effort to educate Americans about the potential of the smart grid, Siemens last week kicked off a six-city interactive roadshow dubbed the "Smart Grid Tour."

The show will consist of an interactive exhibit housed in a 3,000 sq. ft. dome that will allow folks to experience the future of the U.S. power grid in a hands-on way, traveling through the lifecycle of the grid.

Siemens' Smart Grid dome is an attempt to attract four key players:

• Utilities, with the promise of smarter energy management;
• Government personnel, via optimized energy supply and consumption;
• Commercial and residential building owners, with energy savings;
• End consumers, through more control and the ability to manage costs.

Siemens says the exhibit is a 360-degree experience and its employees will be on hand to discuss the smart grid.

A few data points from Siemens about why the smart grid matters:

• Electricity demand worldwide is projected to grow by more than 60 percent by 2030.
• Implementing the Smart Grid will help reduce worldwide carbon emissions by more than 1 billion tons by the year 2020.
• The Obama administration in 2009 invested $3.5 billion in the smart grid.
• The smart grid will "accelerate the shift" toward renewable energy.

The tour will stop in New Orleans, Atlanta, Chicago, New York, Portland (Ore.) and Washington, D.C.

This post was originally published on Smartplanet.com