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What is a SmartGrid? And why should I care?
It seems like everyone has their own definition of the term "Smartgrid" - and some don't like the word at all. At the Connectivty Week Conference earlier this month, I met many people - all with their own definitions and explanations.
But one of the most complete definitions comes from Christine Hertzog and posted on the site for the SmartGrid Dictionary.
There are many definitions for the Smart Grid, but here's the one that you'll find in the Smart Grid Dictionary along with the DoE characteristics of a Smartgrid:
A bi-directional electric and communication network that improves the reliability, security, and efficiency of the electric system for small to large-scale generation, transmission, distribution, and storage. It includes software and hardware applications for dynamic, integrated, and interoperable optimization of electric systems operations, maintenance, and planning; distributed generation interconnection and integration; and feedback and controls at the consumer level. The Department of Energy (DOE) identifies 7 characteristics of a Smart Grid:
- Enables active participation by consumers
- Handles all generation and storage possibilities
- Handles new products, services, and market models
- Delivers power quality
- Operates efficiently and optimizes assets
- Self heals in the course of any system disruptions
- Functions with resilience in natural and man-made disasters
You can also find her ebook on the site, which contains a healthy collection of linked and cross-referrenced terms in this rapidly growing space. If your new to these terms or just trying to keep-up with the growing list of jargon and acronyms - this is a great resource to help guide you along.
Why should you care? Because this one word - with all of its implications is destined to change everyones life from the V2G...
Welcome to Digiville
I got an alert to an interesting contest focused on using modern sensing technology (ZigBee) and building small models to demonstrate key ideas for Green Design.
Want to see how a firehouse might conserve energy? Or track a railroad system? Or show how a solar farm might work? You can by visiting Digiville.You can check out these cost-saving, environmentally-themed wireless designs here....
All of these designs are based on specially-priced iDigi development kits with the starter kits all costing $149 and including an on-demand hosting services, hardware, and development tools to build your own wireless application.
But the fun part comes from Digi's Green Design Contest when you can show off your ideas and win some of the $20,000 in total prize money.
For full contest details, including a list of approved environmentally-themed categories, and to buy a kit, Go Green. Go Digi.
Green Week - Learn all about it
This is Green Week. Are you bored and think there isn't anything new to learn here. Flipping thru the TV Channels and nothing on TV. How about some interesting webcasts on your computer?
I just discovered an interesting web site that will have a whole day of webcasts (April 22, 2009) on a variety of topics related to Green Week. Here are some of the topics...
8-8:45am PST Donald S. Simon of Wendel, Rosen, Black & Dean, LLP - "Governmental Incentives and Mandates: Regulatory Future for Green Building"
9-9:45am Barry Hooper of the Department of the Environment, City & County of San Francisco - "Building and Operating Green in 2009 - Challenges and Successes in San Francisco"
10-10:45am Mitchell Joachim of Columbia University and Terreform 1 - "The Carborexic City"
11-11:45am George Elvin of Ball State University and Green Technology Forum - "Nanotechnology for Green Building"
12-12:45pm Peter Yost of Building Green LLC - "Sustainability Requires Durability"
1-1:45pm Kevin O'Donnell of WD Partners - "The Environmental Impact of Building & How the Design Community Can Change That"
2-2:45pm Jon Alexander of Sunshine Construction - "Practical Steps for Deep Green Remodeling"
3-3:45pm Eric Corey Freed of Organic Architect - "The Myth of Sisyphus: A Roadmap to Greening Our Buildings"
4-4:45pm Ralph DiNola of Green Building Services, Inc - "LEED for Historic Projects: Greening our Architectural Heritage"
http://www.brighttalk.com/summit/greenweek
... for free registration.
The site also has some other interesting Channels - tomorrow (April 21) is Water Management. They also have Channels for Green IT, Security, Grren Building and more.
The list of summits is here:
http://www.brighttalk.com/summits
Hey is this week like St. Patty's Day all week? Do I need to wear green? Drink green...
GPS for the Mind
Relax, this isn't a commercial post on anything related to Bentley Geospatial products.
This is about an interesting company that I discovered - Mind Time. They presented at the FIATECH conference last week.
First ask yourself the question - Who am I? There are a collection of pyschometric tests that can help answer this question. Who hasn't taken a Myers-Briggs Test (ENTP here)?
But now let me ask a harder question. Who are you as a "group" in your company? Have you ever worked with a team or group and found the team never made any progress? Ever have a brainstorm session that overflows with ideas, but never gets anything done after the storm? If you could profile a group - wouldn't that be a good idea?
The audience at the FIATECH conference got the chance to do both individual profiles based on 18 questions, and more importantly got a group profile on the collective thoughts of the group on 24 questions related to our industry.
Some of the questions:(you agree/disagree with each statement on a sliding scale)
The globalization of business and economic practices will dramatically influence the Engineering Construction industry.
Owners really do want contractors to make a profit.
The stimulus package will help the construction industry recover.
The construction industry invests adequately in exploring new technologies.
Research and development are crucial to profitability in the construction industry.
and many more...
Now comes the fun part. Slicing and dicing the answer to these questions, with the dot mapping you on the Past, Present, Future grid of your profile.
So here's an interesting example. Consider our industry. Are we for research? Do we invest in technology?
I looked at two questions related to this idea.
First
The construction industry invests adequately in exploring new technologies....
Golden-i - the next mobile, wireless wonder
I see a lot of mobile and wireless devices from various sources, but this device will revolutionize the on-site computing paradigm in the construction market (and other markets as well).
Computing power in a work environment is always complicated with trade-offs. Tablets become expensive and too heavy - and probably get left behind because of the weight and cumbersome handling.
Handhelds and Smartphones seem like a better option, but trade-offs here are on the screen size. You need to squish large images down to fit on the screen.
And any computer requires input and navigation which requires the use of keyboards and/or pen-stylus. You now have a 2 handed problem of working with the computing device.
What if you could have a hands-free device? What if you could have a 15 inch virtual screen size in front of you? What if you could also have full visual awareness of the environment in front of you? What if you could control navigation and operation of the computer with voice commands and head gestures. Sounds like something out of a 007 movie.
Well soon you will be able to use such a device. I could go on and describe all the wireless features and wonders of such a device...or just point you to a movie of it in action.
So for the first time at the FIATECH conference last week, a company called Kopin in cooperation with Motorola and after working with Bentley's Applied Research to provide a realistic integration scenerio - this magical device was shown in action. See the clip of Tom Sawyer from ENR interview Chris Parkinson as he demostrates this device in action - then tell me what you think. How would you use this device on a construction site?
Golden-i...
Microsoft's Investment for Survival
Yes, even Microsoft has been hit with the downturn in the economy. Microsoft, like so many other companies, was forced to do an across the board layoff. But one area that was spared the knife - research. At TechFest 2009 - Craig Mundie made some thought provoking statements about the future products from Microsoft and his position on research.
Now since Craig is Microsoft's chief research and strategy officer - you might expect him to champion investment in research. And in his talk on Tuesday this week, as expected - he really strongly supports it, even suggesting that survival of the company is dependent on research.
Later he even supports his theory of survival by turning back the clock and looking at the early days of Microsoft when the company made a decision to start up a basic research operation. Other companies didn't invest in research, and most of those companies aren't with us any more.
Microsoft Research head Rick Rashid was even bold enough to define the future results of research by saying "If you knew what you were going to get, it wouldn't be basic research"
Perhaps the most interesting response in the discussion was an answer to the question - which technologies are likely to help Microsoft in the future? Answer - Some of the new computer interfaces that will move the industry beyond the mouse and keyboard.
I found that interesting - not new OS, Office suites, mobile devices, cloud computing, or even Web 2.0 as the top research revenue hot spots - but new computer interfaces.
You can find more on this story on the cnet news page.
So what new computer interfaces would you like to see for Bentley products?
RFID in Construction
At the end of last year, I had the pleasure of speaking with Laura Canning from Constructech Magazine. We discussed the work we just started on the RFID cookbook with FIATECH, NDSU and other team members. An interesting article on some of the applications and activity with RFID was just published in M2M magazine - a sister publication to Constructech.
http://www.specialtypub.com/m2m/article.asp?article_id=7440
It's a nice article that just scratches the surface of what's happening with RFID in construction. Tags are being used for tool tracking, large asset tracking, safety and security, supply chain and more.
RFID is a simple technology that is gaining traction now, but it is also part of a larger technology collection more commonly called - Auto-ID. Auto-ID is the wider category that includes technology for creating an efficient way to create an "identity" of things/people. This includes related technologies like barcodes, OCR, biometrics, mag stripe readers and other systems that can quickly scan and detect an identity.
One would think that in this economy that the industry would avoid investing in technology, but actually the opposite is true. In our last conference call on discussing the RFID Cookbook, Dan Slade of Jacobs remarked that now is the time to find and implement new technologies that can help improve our efficiency and bottom line. This doesn't mean that Dan's making a commitment - but it does mean he has a vision and a purpose - to invest and leverage technology to improve his bottom line. Others on the team share this commitment and are pioneers in the early work with RFID tool tracking (Todd Sutton of Zachry) and Metal Pipe tagging (Dan).
Universities like Texas A&M (Dr. Ben Zoghi) are actively building labs and doing research work to improve the systems in field tests and working with...
Google Maps of Power
My last post on Google and Energy generated some interest and a few comments. So I started looking up the areas I knew that were doing work with Smart Metering - mostly in Texas. I stumbled across this very interesting map that shows worldwide applications of Smart Metering - not just for electricity, but also gas and water.
So checkout this Worldwide Smart Metering Project Map and let me know what you think.
It shows all sites that are in trial or an actual project, and a pop-up gives some more background information (number in the trial, companies/technology involved, etc.). It also indicates if it is AMR or AMI. I expected more AMR dots, but I was surprised by the number of AMI dots.
It seems like this SmartGrid stuff already has some Brains, we just need to "connect-the-dots" better.
Google Gets the Power
Google is best known for its search engine strategy, and how they reinvented the search market.
Now Google has entered the energy space. And they might just reinvent the energy ecosystem. Google wants to be in your home, watching the energy on all your devices - refrigerators, dish washers, the always-running TV, computers, anything you want to monitor. And then after it collects all this junk - well you know Google, they save everything. Soon you'll be able to compare your energy usage to your neighbors.
You can read all the details on what Google is planning on their energy page.
I just noticed this article on EDN about what Google plans to do.
Hey didn't Eric Schmidt back Obama and isn't he one of his economic and energy advisors?
Now Google is making a good pitch here, because until now the energy companies hoarded all of your data.
Don't you deserve to know how you are spending your energy dollars?
This will be the buzz for the next few weeks - at least.
You will here this phrase over and over (like "Wall st. to Main st" - I cringe everytime I hear this phrase anymore)...
"If you cannot measure it, you cannot improve it." - Lord Kelvin
I'll be posting more on some services and energy trials going on in different areas of the country. Stay tuned.
I know our CEO (the energy one) is measuring lots of things.
So what do you think of Google's plan for the energy space?
Super Bowl in 3D
Get your 3D glasses ready for the Super Bowl.
Checkout the details at this site. The 2009 Super Bowl commerical lineup will include a 3D ad sponsored by Pepsi.
The technology uses a new technique from Intel called InTru 3D and ColorCode 3-D. it supposedly improves the visual display and eliminates the headaches caused by those old analglyphic red/blue glasses techniques.
Where do you get these glasses? Almost all supermarkets that have the SoBe display. Target will have them on January 31st. Or you can call 1-800-646-2894.
The commercial will be shown sometime before the end of the first half. The stars of the commercial will include the SoBe Lizards and characters for the upcoming Dreamworks movie "Monsters vs. Aliens" DreamWorks will produce all of its feature films using this InTru 3D technology beginning in 2009.
Save the glasses after the game. NBC will air a special episode of "Chuck" that will use the 3D glasses also.
3D will be making a push into the consumer market over the next few years. I'll talk more on 3D changes coming to the entertainment industry - and ultimately for business.
But if you really want to learn about cool things to do now in MicroStation in 3D, see Keith Bentley's talk at the V8i announcement. Better surface manipulation, dynamic views, georeferencing, luxology rendering and more.
My bet is both the 3D features in V8i and the 3D Superbowl commericals will be at the top of everyone's list of cool things to see.
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