Big Money for ‘Smart Grid’
EmailFrom Rachel Martin:
Today President Obama is taking a tour of one of the country's largest solar farms, in Arcadia, Fla., which will be the backdrop for his announcement about a major federal investment in a "smart grid" — a system of transmission lines to distribute electricity around the country quickly and efficiently.
The president will announce a $3.4 billion investment in 100 different projects in 49 states (the White House would not say which state was inadvertently left out).
These projects will be awarded up to $200 million each in federal grant money that comes from the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act. That money is then matched by private investors at least one to one.
According to senior White House officials, 400 projects were submitted for review and each project was evaluated up to four or five times through a competitive peer review over the past couple months. In a background briefing for reporters Monday, White House climate change czar Carole Browner named four awardees in Marietta, Ga.; Baltimore, Md.; San Diego; and Arcadia, Fla.
Through these projects, administration officials expect to create or save hundreds of thousands of jobs and ultimately reduce U.S. electricity consumption by 4 percent by 2030. According to a press release issued by the White House, "The end result will promote energy-saving choices for consumers, increase efficiency, and foster the growth of renewable energy sources like wind and solar."
Browner called the current energy transmission system "antiquated" and "dilapidated," and said this investment will be "far more than a facelift" for America's power transmission grid.
Many of the projects are described as "shovel-ready start-ups" that have had a hard time securing funding in the current economic climate.
"Americans will get a very high return for their investment," White House energy advisor Matt Rogers said.
– Rachel Martin
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Rick Santorum's Full Speech at CPAC 2012
The state that is left out is one of two Texas or Alaska, But will this actually create any new jobs. It of course spends lots of tax payer money.
Posted by: earl | October 27, 2009, 7:15 am 7:15 am
On my new Stimulus Diet, I have lost or have not gained 45 pounds!
Posted by: mesquito | October 27, 2009, 9:47 am 9:47 am
I’ve been wondering and watching for when this portion of the Recovery Act would get moving. Although I know the naysayers will find something or another to gripe about, I’m glad this is rolling. Good investment. The projects run the gamut from new solar energy power plants and energy-saving sensors to energy-efficient neighborhood transformers and substations. I read an article about Cobb EMC (a firm that received a grant) and their smart meters and load control devices this morning– I believe jobs created in relation to them would/could include assembly line workers, electricians, engineers and installers. Lynn Sweet has the WH fact sheet posted to give you more of an idea of what kind of jobs will be created and analogizes the upgrade to the rise of electronic banking.
Posted by: Alyson | October 27, 2009, 10:06 am 10:06 am
Posted by: mesquito | Oct 27, 2009 9:47:44 AM
Hmmm… here’s the problem. The analogy! A better one would go like this– a plague hit the nation and everyone was losing weight. The projection was that it was spread and hit 90% of the population, and each person would lose 20% of their weight. In that environment, thanks to the stimulus, you haven’t been hit by the plague and you haven’t lost a pound. Perhaps, you’ve even gained a couple– though your sister lost five (versus 25).
Just sayin’
Posted by: Alyson | October 27, 2009, 10:12 am 10:12 am
“Through these projects, administration officials expect to create or save hundreds of thousands of jobs”
The government can’t figure out what they are going to do tomorrow but they always manage to publish “facts” like this. It’s like a sickness with them. They just can’t seem to keep their mouths shut and get to work. Let the thing play out under it’s own momentum.
Posted by: Visualize Whirled Peas | October 27, 2009, 10:22 am 10:22 am
The state that is left out is one of two Texas or Alaska…
Posted by: earl | Oct 27, 2009 7:15:07 AM
It’s Alaska according to the NYT, though the article didn’t give any specifics on that. Perhaps, they didn’t submit proposals for “shovel-ready” projects.
Posted by: Alyson | October 27, 2009, 10:28 am 10:28 am
I’m glad to see the government is investing in green technology. Really the whole economy should be looking ahead to make that investment; in 2006, the United Nations predicted that the global market for clean energy would be worth $1.9 trillion, and an Associated Press article I read last month put the figure for China alone at $1 trillion by 2013. I want the United States to be an active player in this global market. I think we should be exporting these sustainable technologies. And although taxpayer-funded grants are good in this case, really the private sector should get moving on this issue. I think a new clean energy bill with a national carbon cap would be the perfect thing to spur this kind of innovation and efficiency.
Posted by: Phil | October 27, 2009, 10:56 am 10:56 am
This article is laughable. Do you people not read that well. It says…..it might lower electrical consumption 4% in a couple years. LOL America’s energy demand growth can exceed 4% in a year, AND how much money is this costing??? Who is getting the money (what company)? Wake up America we got hoodwinked by an inexperience flim-flam man with a marxist agenda. The country is broke and in decline. Run for your lives.
Posted by: jon | October 27, 2009, 11:24 am 11:24 am
And although taxpayer-funded grants are good in this case, really the private sector should get moving on this issue.
Posted by: Phil | Oct 27, 2009 10:56:33 AM
Yes, good point! Other nations– like China, India and Japan– are racing to develop new ways to produce and use energy, but too many folks here seem willing to let the opportunity to lead in the global marketplace on this slip between our fingers.
Posted by: Alyson | October 27, 2009, 11:26 am 11:26 am
Quit spending money! Throwing money around that we are borrowing from China is not fixing anything!! I wish someone would shake the Prez and wake him up!!
Posted by: MT | October 27, 2009, 11:28 am 11:28 am
(the White House would not say which state was inadvertently left out).
===========
I must say I like the author of this post’s decision that the White House “inadvertently” left out a state.
How does she know it was “inadvertent”?
Posted by: MayBee | October 27, 2009, 11:35 am 11:35 am
At the moment Florida Power bills are going through the roof and am not hearing one word from anyone in regard to this
Posted by: SJ | October 27, 2009, 11:36 am 11:36 am
I think we should be exporting these sustainable technologies. And although taxpayer-funded grants are good in this case, really the private sector should get moving on this issue. I think a new clean energy bill with a national carbon cap would be the perfect thing to spur this kind of innovation and efficiency.
Posted by: Phil | Oct 27, 2009 10:56:33 AM
***
I agree. I remember reading last week in the LA Times, after Obama spoke at MIT that China is spending almost three times as much as the United States on low-pollution energy. Every country wants to lead the global marketplace in this sector, and some are racing to do just that. We need to get going! I’m trying to be as supportive of that as I possibly can be through my investments and the way I vote.
Posted by: Alyson | October 27, 2009, 11:36 am 11:36 am
jon:it might lower electrical consumption 4% in a couple years.
==========
Not even a couple years.
In 20 years– 2030.
Posted by: MayBee | October 27, 2009, 11:37 am 11:37 am
I HIGHLY SUGGEST everyone read about the “smart grid” on Wikipedia before getting excited about this project. IF you like government intervention, IF you like the electric company knowing WHAT TIME you are cooking your dinner and charging you ALOT more IF you are doing so between 5-9pm, IF you are willing to change your entire day around so you won’t have to pay through the nose for electricity, then this “grid” is for you.
The dems nearly had heart failure when Bush asked for wiretapping to help us root out terrorists, but now that Obama is in, it’s government intervention all the way. Hope you don’t like to eat your dinner between 5-9pm, unless, of course, you plan on having a candlelight dinner of sandwiches or beenie weenies.
Posted by: Shoe | October 27, 2009, 12:10 pm 12:10 pm
Obama bad, democrat=socialists, blah blah blah…
The republicans, come up with answers! Though the vintage on your ‘white whine’ is quite excellent!
Posted by: USMC | October 27, 2009, 12:46 pm 12:46 pm
Fantastic!!!!! I am VERY pleased.
Posted by: Hege1321 | October 27, 2009, 12:59 pm 12:59 pm
Alyson, you might want to find out how much GE (Jeff Immelt) is making on that deal, he took bailout money yet he sits to the right hand of the Messiah, not like the GM CEO who got fired,also he did not get a paycut on his salary.
Posted by: Lizzie | October 27, 2009, 1:02 pm 1:02 pm
Obama’s Solar cell farm which covers 10 square miles of desert,will only use 16 billion gallons of water each year in an area where this not that much water.The White house says you will have an energy choice,yea like now you can pay the power company or sit in the dark, some choice. Create or save hundreds of thousands of jobs? How is it going to save jobs that do not exist yet? Just what we need Government run Energy what a waste of money,they can not even run Social security,Medicare/medicad and want to ruin,yes Ruin you cheap source of energy.
Posted by: strikerF | October 27, 2009, 1:11 pm 1:11 pm
according to Rasmussen, 21% of Americans who claim to be conservatives, evangelical, or republicans,..don’t believe in the sun, they say the respondents don’t really understand what the big yellowish thing in the sky is, but if the Dems like it, can’t be good for the country.
they also didn’t know what to make of the moon, but if Obama was for it they were aginst it..
Posted by: Oh Yeah | October 27, 2009, 1:11 pm 1:11 pm
As a fiscal conservative without children of my own, I’m beginning to understand the plight of hard-working parents who barely make enough to buy the most basic of essentials.
You know what I mean. The mom who has $100 left on 15th of the month to buy food to last til the 1st. And the 6-year old is screaming “I want, I want, I want!”
Yep, that’s what President Obama sounds like. He wants this new gadget even tho the old still works.
Everyone who understands when the checking account is empty you have to wait for something, please raise your hand.
Go ahead, do it.
Then write the President and tell him he can’t have a new toy right now.
I’m not saying there is a lot of infrastructure that needs upgrading, but we can’t afford it….not now. We need to take care of the essentials; pay down the existing debt.
I wonder if President Obama truly understands prioritization. He needs to slow down. Focus on the essentials that must be met first. I mean, he’s got 3 years left in this term alone.
Posted by: malcat | October 27, 2009, 1:25 pm 1:25 pm
Pres Bush used to say everything was ‘hard work’ and for him it was, failures in 2 wars, domestic insanity like letting NOLA drown, foreign policy disasters, domestic spying, torture, crashing the economy putting millions out of work..
8 years of failure, hard work indeed, but he and the republicans were well up to the task of ruining america and crushing the middle class.
and yet Republicans still advocate the same do nothing, let america rot policies…..
Obama hasn’t fixed all of Bush/Cheney’s problems yet… be interesting to see if he does, but at least he and the Dems are trying something different as opposed to knowing that republicans would be doing the same thing they always do:
say nothing, loudly,, proclaim themselves ‘patriots’, and claim everyone else is wrong while pointing out their failures as accomplishments..
I’m glad America see them now as they truly are…..
Posted by: Oh Yeah | October 27, 2009, 1:26 pm 1:26 pm
OOPS, can’t type, I meant to say….”I’m not saying there isN’T a lot of infrastructure that needs upgrading, but we can’t afford it….not now.
Posted by: malcat | October 27, 2009, 1:27 pm 1:27 pm
according to Rasmussen, 21% of Americans who claim to be conservatives, evangelical, or republicans,..don’t believe in the sun, they say the respondents don’t really understand what the big yellowish thing in the sky is, but if the Dems like it, can’t be good for the country.
they also didn’t know what to make of the moon, but if Obama was for it they were aginst it..
———-
Oh Yeah, you are a big part of the problem. Stop ranting and raving, thereby appearing to be ignorant.
You’re not helping the Democrats and only encouraging those on the right who are as ignorant as you just sounded.
Posted by: malcat | October 27, 2009, 1:31 pm 1:31 pm
Oh Yeah, you are a big part of the problem
Posted by: malcat
why are you rightists so afraid of free speech?
I know you believe that the ‘righty’s’ are the only ones entitled to free speech, but, I guess you don’t support the constitution and our beloved founders as well as our brave troops fighting for our rights.
Why, oh why do republicans hate america?
Posted by: Oh Yeah | October 27, 2009, 1:53 pm 1:53 pm
Posted by: malcat
more importantly, I don’t think you understand the concept of satire, good or bad….
Posted by: Oh Yeah | October 27, 2009, 1:55 pm 1:55 pm
“Just what we need Government run Energy what a waste of money,”
strikerF | Oct 27, 2009 1:11:24 PM
The same blind short term thinking condemned Hoover dam – which opened a major portion of the West to development and has earned it’s enormous cost back ten-fold.
Posted by: jhw539 | October 27, 2009, 2:08 pm 2:08 pm
=== I remember reading last week in the LA Times, after Obama spoke at MIT that China is spending almost three times as much as the United States on low-pollution energy. ===
I also remember reading how Obama said China’s infrastructure was better suited than ours. Pretty pictures from the Olympics notwithstanding, “the country was suffering from its biggest power shortage since 2004″ according to the Telegraph. The problem? Lack of coal. I can see how Obama would admire China.
Posted by: Axey | October 27, 2009, 2:39 pm 2:39 pm
===How does she know it was “inadvertent”?===
I wonder which state was left out? How do we find out?
Posted by: Axey | October 27, 2009, 2:44 pm 2:44 pm
“The winning companies have secured an additional $4.7 billion in private money to match their government grants, creating $8.1 billion in total investment in the smart grid.”
________________________________________
Just a small fact left out of the article above.
Private industry and government working together for a better future.
Posted by: julieterra | October 27, 2009, 2:44 pm 2:44 pm
MayBee,
The state that was inadvertently left out was Alaska.
Posted by: Axey | October 27, 2009, 2:50 pm 2:50 pm
Spend!
Posted by: LongT | October 27, 2009, 3:37 pm 3:37 pm
… does no one else think the inadvertently left out state is hawaii … ? how would we run a smart grid electricity system out there … ?
Posted by: Rick | October 27, 2009, 5:50 pm 5:50 pm
The Wiki entry for “smart grid” was totally biased by somebody who apparently got in there first and put that ridiculous claptrap comment about charging you more for electricity by putting a device between your dinner-making appliance and the wall outlet. As it clearly states at the top of the entry, this page is “In Dispute.”
The real value of an enhanced, smart grid includes increased efficiency and for the allowance of the seamless incorporation of homeowner-produced electricity to be sold to the utilities.
Our utilities are falling apart and have not kept up with either demand or technology. But they are just the tip of the infrastructure iceberg. Our sewers and water lines are bursting across the country having long since reached the end of their 75 – 100 year lifetimes.
Everything wears out. As my grandmother used to say, “A stitch in time, saves nine.” Spending on infrastructure, whether for electric grids or new sewers is, IMHO, “smart” indeed.
Posted by: Enobie | October 27, 2009, 7:06 pm 7:06 pm
Hooray! Another integrated infrastructure to come tumbling down when the technology trap fails us.
Posted by: Publius` | October 27, 2009, 7:37 pm 7:37 pm
Does no one here understand what Smart Grid is! It is a system where the Government will be CONTROLLING the temperature inside your HOME!!!! You will not be able to change your temp to cooler or warmer as you feel the need. The government will have complete control to dictate how cool or warm it should be inside your home. Really NOT IN MY HOUSE!!! COME ON PEOPLE WAKE UP!!!! This plan is not to improve the system, not to create jobs. It is all about control. Do you want an example?? How many people were at Walmart when it was warmer INSIDE the store than outside?? I question a walmart employee and they said the temp at the store here where I live was control by the central store not even in my State!!! They said they could not turn on the air because of this. SO do I want the government dictating the same ? NOOOOO
Posted by: mary | October 27, 2009, 8:12 pm 8:12 pm
Let me guess who is profiting off this..those that donatated to Obama. Newsflash pumpkins, there is an article out about Obama using the GlobalWarming nonsense meeting in december to help set up a one world order (he wants to be the world president) basically where the US funds this new world order and redistributes our wealth to other countries because we use energy here to help our industries.
Posted by: talkhooloo | October 27, 2009, 8:38 pm 8:38 pm
Letting NOLA Down? Trying to bail a bunch of crack heads was a waste of money…they let themselves down and Bush and the idiots in congress only enabled these loser to behave even worse.
Posted by: talkhooloo | October 27, 2009, 8:41 pm 8:41 pm
Dear talkhooloo,
Thank you very much for your posting. Smart Grid is about linking electricity users and power providers. The governement, especially the federal government has no role in this scheme at all. They merely provide the initial funding for necessary improvements in an outdated power grid. Each citizen is free to generate his own electricity and be independent of the grid (MicroGrid).
Sincerely,
Max Gruenig
Posted by: Max Gruenig | October 28, 2009, 3:47 am 3:47 am
Don’t you people understand yet that this man wants to run everything in our lives and that we are in a lot of trouble as long as he is in office. We are stuck for the next three yrs. and I don’t know about you but it scares the hell out of me.
He is not a prsident and never will be and we are all going to suffer.
He doesn’t even have a good staff behind him.
You know my whole adult life I have been a democrate no more. I will never vote democrate again.
Posted by: Helen Ehrhardt | October 28, 2009, 8:28 am 8:28 am
You know my whole adult life I have been a democrate no more. I will never vote democrate again.
Posted by: Helen Ehrhardt | Oct 28, 2009 8:28:10 AM
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I’m sick of Washington! Both parties are hypocrites and liars! I was a democrate all my life until BO and now I’m not a Democrate, Republican or independant. I’m a conservative!!!
Posted by: lovingpolitics | Oct 26, 2009 6:44:02 PM
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Helen, meet lovingpolitics — lovingpolitics, meet Helen. I think you two were meant to be together.
Posted by: WWW | October 28, 2009, 11:32 am 11:32 am