Tuesday, 02 February 2010 14:43

A new report from the Department of Energy’s Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (PNNL) says that a smart electric grid could reduce carbon emissions from the utility industry by 12 percent and reduce usage by the same amount.  The report is titled “The Smart Grid: An Estimation of the Energy and CO2 Benefits.”

The report illustrates how a smart grid can reduce carbon emissions and shows how different smart technologies could also reduce the amount of energy demanded at the same time.  Introducing new technology makes these benefits apparent right away while creating innovative efficiency programs and expanding the use of renewable energy become more effective as they increase in popularity.

If smart grid benefits were fully realized in the United States 442 million metric tons of carbon emissions could be saved.  This amount is equal to permanently closing 66 average coal-fired plants.

“By making the grid smart, we make it more efficient and more accommodating of renewable, and we’re able to cut down on the amount of carbon we emit to generate the electricity we need,” said Rob Pratt, research scientist at PNNL.  “This report suggests that we could substantially reduce emissions by deploying a smart grid.”

“We wanted to show the additional benefits inherent in the smart grid’s potential contribution to the nation’s goal of mitigating climate change by reducing the carbon footprint of the electric power system,” Pratt continued.

Research into emissions and smart grid technology have typically been separate even though both fields have a direct impact on how energy will be used in the future.  The PNNL report is the latest addition to a growing information repository that links the two areas of study and proves that more research and technology development should be undertaken.

“This report has significant implications for public and private sector interests engaging in future research, financial, and policy decisions in this area,” said Mike Davis, associate laboratory director at PNNL.  “Reducing our dependence on foreign oil and reducing our carbon footprint can go hand in hand and be profitable.”

Pratt’s team analyzed nine ways that smart grid technology could reduce carbon emissions within the report.  They also provided recommendations and areas that should be researched in each of the nine methods if the United States is to dramatically reduce emissions and usage by 2030.

Direct mechanisms are smart grid advances that increase operational efficiency and reduce the cost of power transmission.  If savings are continually reinvested in carbon reduction, additional carbon savings will result.  Demand response and energy storage devices that allow for the integration of renewable power into the grid are indirect mechanisms that offset the need to build additional power generating capacity in the future.

“The importance of the direct and indirect reduction mechanisms is in their combined effect on reducing carbon emissions,” said Pratt.  “Some mechanisms proved insignificant, and the larger ones each appear capable of providing about a 3 percent reduction.  In combination, they could reduce the electric grid’s carbon footprint by a very substantial 12 percent or more.”

“This is very significant in light of future renewable portfolio goals of 20 to 30 percent set for the electricity sector in many states for the 2030 time frame, with even higher subsequent goals being contemplated as part of a national carbon policy,” Pratt explained.

The report’s findings assumed a full smart grid deployment throughout the country.  Estimates of smaller deployments can be acquired by scaling down these assumptions.  The report assumes the national rollout will occur over the next 20 years because of the increased reliability and cost efficiencies that will come about as a result.

The PNNL scientists also recommend that additional studies are conducted that consider how the public will react to the additional information that smart meters provide and better ways to account for reduction estimates.

Pacific Northwest National Laboratory
P.O. Box 999
Richland, WA 99352
http://www.pnl.gov

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