Standards for Energy Internet
November 28, 2011
Bruce Nordham of the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory has developed some very exciting concepts on the networked and telecommunications protocols for the future “Energy Internet” or what he calls “Building Networks”. He rightly recognizes that most of today’s “Smart Grid” protocols are focused around the needs of the electrical utility and its transmission system. While in reality we need a set of protocols that focus on much more distributed set of peer to peer energy sources and sinks. These protocols will be particularly important as the eVehicle becomes an alternate energy transport system to the electrical grid.
The challenge we face with the future Energy Internet, in many ways parallels the development of Internet protocols. On one hand you have the IETF which is focused on developing protocols that enable and empower the end user – which has resulted in an explosion of innovation and new products and services. In contrast you have the ITU whose focus has been developing protocols that enable and empower the telco/cableco to control and manage the customer experience(e.g. NGN), where the end user is seen no more than a dumb consumer. It is no surprise that most authoritarian governments and dictators favor the ITU approach.
We are seeing similar issues with the smart grid, where most of the standards development is focused on tools for the utility and grid operator to manage and control the flow of electricity to and from the grid. Utility are largely focused on reducing costs, and not reducing
CO2 emissions, or god forbid empowering the consumer. That is why protocol work of “Building Networks” is so important.
Beyond the Smart Grid: Building Networks: http://eetd.lbl.gov/ea/nordman/docs/beyond.pdf
The Case against the Smart Grid: http://eetd.lbl.gov/ea/nordman/docs/i4e02oct09.pdf
