Boulder, Colo.: America's First 'Smart Grid City'

Nov. 15, 2008— -- The people of Boulder, Colo., have a reputation for appreciating their environment. Biking and hiking trails, parks and open spaces make up a large portion of the picturesque western city.

But Boulder's love of the environment is taking on an innovative, technological edge perhaps more at home in science fiction than in average living rooms as the city transforms itself into America's first Smart Grid City.

Watch the story Saturday on the Discovery Channel's Focus Earth.

Soon, 50,000 homes in Boulder will soon be decked out with the latest in environmentally-friendly, energy-saving technology -- including solar panels, electric cars and, for some, a specialized heating, cooling and lighting system -- all of which will be integrated into a monitoring system that reports the home's carbon footprint to the homeowner.

"We like to think of Smart Grid as bringing the world of Thomas Edison together with the world of Bill Gates," said Ray Gogel of Xcel Energy, a utility company involved in the system's installation.

Xcel, along with several green high-tech companies, has invested $100 million to transform Boulder into a living laboratory.

"We're doing something that the whole world is looking at right now," Gogel said.

University of Colorado Chancellor G.P. "Bud" Peterson and his wife, Val, were the first to let Xcel transform their home. Xcel energy put solar panels on the house, gave them a new smart meter and a plug-in hybrid electric vehicle that literally plugs in to their house.

The new system allows Val Peterson to easily control her energy consumption.

"I pretty much get on my computer, tell my house and my car what to do and then I walk away," she said. "My solar panels are talking to my house, are talking to my car, are talking to my house. It's a beautiful system."

These high-tech gadgets make the Peterson's home so efficient that they are not just using less power, sometimes they save so much power that their meter is essentially spinning backward. The excess power is stored in the house, charging the batteries in their car and supplying them with about two days' worth of backup power.