May 9, 2012

Can Real-Time Pricing Green the Grid?

To address climate change, don’t forget the largest, carbon-spewing machine on earth: the US electric grid.

James WestPhoto: James West

Unless you’ve been living off the grid, you’ve probably heard about President Obama’s “all of the above” plan for America’s energy future, which embraces everything from oil drilling and natural gas fracking to wind, solar, and even pond scum. In the last couple years the Obama administration has pumped billions into cutting-edge clean energy tech. But these all share a common problem: plugging into an electric grid that is mostly unchanged since the 1930s. Energy experts say meeting our carbon-footprint reduction goals will remain a pipe dream until we can revamp electricity distribution. The solution? The “smart grid,” a nickname for a sweeping series of updates on everything from power stations to the meter in your home, which promises to save power and money by being sensitive to your energy use.

In the second installment of Climate Desk’s Future Energy series, see how America is modernizing the largest machine on the planet.  

Have a question about your energy future? Drop us a line.

More Mother Jones reporting on Climate Desk

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AN IMPORTANT UPDATE ON MOTHER JONES' FINANCES

We need to start being more upfront about how hard it is keeping a newsroom like Mother Jones afloat these days.

Because it is, and because we're fresh off finishing a fiscal year, on June 30, that came up a bit short of where we needed to be. And this next one simply has to be a year of growth—particularly for donations from online readers to help counter the brutal economics of journalism right now.

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