I don’t know about you, but I eat up all the new information about smart grid deployments that I can find, especially given all the pockets of consumer dissension that have cropped up around some of the early smart meter pilot projects. That’s why I felt it relevant to alert GreenTech Pastures readers about a new information web site called the Smart Grid Information Clearinghouse, which is being assembled by the GridWise Alliance.
The site, which is basically in a beta form, is intended to provide information about the various technical and legislative developments affecting smart grid deployments, as well as the projects going on around both the United States and the world. The primary “assemblers” of this information are Virginia Tech and the IEEE. A different, federal, web site, provides smart grid funding data.
Since I’m on the topic of the smart grid, worth noting that an organization called the Smart Grid Consumer Collaborative, which was founded about three months ago, has attracted several notable greentech vendors as new members: Accenture, Itron and Intel. Given the consumer confusion, backlash and consternation over smart grid — especially in the context of the heat wave gripping many sections of the country right now — it seems imperative for the smart grid industry to focus more on getting its act together with respect to what utility consumers (both electricity AND water) are thinking.
