Department of Energy - Smart Grid

“Smart grid” generally refers to a class of technology people are using to bring utility electricity delivery systems into the 21st century, using computer-based remote control and automation. These systems are made possible by two-way communication technology and computer processing that has been used for decades in other industries. They are beginning to be used on electricity networks, from the power plants and wind farms all the way to the consumers of electricity in homes and businesses. They offer many benefits to utilities and consumers -- mostly seen in big improvements in energy efficiency on the electricity grid and in the energy users’ homes and offices. For a century, utility companies have had to send workers out to gather much of the data needed to provide electricity. The “grid” amounts to the networks that carry electricity from the plants where it is generated to consumers. The key activities that comprise OE’s smart grid strategy are summarized below.

SmartGrids: European Technology Platform Global Climate Change: Research Explorer The earth’s climate has warmed and cooled for millions of years, since long before we appeared on the scene. There’s no doubt that the climate is growing warmer currently; indications of that change are all around us. Though climate change isn’t new, the study of how human activity affects the earth’s climate is. The exploration of climate change encompasses many fields, including physics, chemistry, biology, geology, meteorology, oceanography, and even sociology. At this Web site, you can explore scientific data relating to the atmosphere, the oceans, the areas covered by ice and snow, and the living organisms in all these domains.

PowerMeter - Save Energy. Save Money. Make a Difference. We launched Google PowerMeter as a free energy monitoring tool to raise awareness about the importance of giving people access to their energy information. PowerMeter included key features like visualizations of your energy usage, the ability share information with others, and personalized recommendations to save energy. We partnered with device manufacturers and utilities around the world. Many of our partners now have new options available for accessing energy information. We are pleased that PowerMeter helped demonstrate the importance of access to energy information, and created a model for others. We retired the service on September 16, 2011. We continue to see encouraging results about the importance of access to energy data. Momentum is building toward making energy information more readily accessible, and it’s exciting to see others drive innovation and pursue opportunities in this important new market.

The Large Hadron Collider The Large Hadron Collider (LHC) is the world’s largest and most powerful particle accelerator. It first started up on 10 September 2008, and remains the latest addition to CERN’s accelerator complex. The LHC consists of a 27-kilometre ring of superconducting magnets with a number of accelerating structures to boost the energy of the particles along the way. Inside the accelerator, two high-energy particle beams travel at close to the speed of light before they are made to collide. Thousands of magnets of different varieties and sizes are used to direct the beams around the accelerator. All the controls for the accelerator, its services and technical infrastructure are housed under one roof at the CERN Control Centre. How many kilometres of cables are there on the LHC? Download the LHC guide [PDF] CERN takes safety very seriously. Read about the safety of the LHC

Texas Electricity Ratings: The Blog Best astronomy images 2012: See the most beautiful images of the universe The Universe is beautiful. Which is interesting. It doesn’t have to be; it could be all colorless and weird and lumpy. Instead, it’s bursting with color, sculpted by vast forces, molded into fantastic shapes that please our eyes and delight our brains—especially once we understand what we’re seeing. Every December I pick my favorite images from the previous year to display, a task that is extraordinarily difficult. Many of these, you might expect, are from Hubble, but other telescopes get their share, as well as some that were taken by amateur astronomers with not much more than good cameras and a desire to see and capture the Universe. I can’t argue with that sentiment. On Aug. 31, 2012, the Sun had a major hissy fit: A vast arch of material was lifted up off the surface by the Sun’s powerful magnetic field. Venus orbits closer to the Sun than the Earth does, and on rare occasions our orbits align such that Venus passes directly in front of the Sun. JAXA/NASA/Lockheed Martin. Going Deep.

Monitor Your Home Power Usage by Building a DIY Power Meter Reader - How-To Geek ETC Commercial meter readers are expensive; this DIY hack allows you to cheaply monitor your power consumption for a greener tomorrow (and, realistically, a much lower bill). Paul discovered that his digital power meter sent out a pulse of IR light every time a watt-hour of power was consumed. He built a simple monitoring assembly in a project box that consisted of a small circuit board and a photo transistor. It’s a clever and inexpensive hack (it cost him less $20). You can check out the details of his build at the link below. IRMeterMon [via Hack-A-Day] Jason Fitzpatrick is warranty-voiding DIYer and all around geek.