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[bob ford <bobford79 AT yahoo.com>]

Jerry and others understand this subject better than me.  I thought it was an 
interesting article .....bobford

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"Wind turbines and solar panels have become the icons of renewable energy. 
But renewable energy is only as effective as the infrastructure that moves it 
around: the electrical grid.

Cool devices to harness pollution-free energy won't do much to lessen the 
country's fossil-fuel dependence unless aging and unsophisticated 
infrastructure is vastly updated to transmit it."

.........."The current electric grid has two basic shortcomings. It's not big 
enough to accommodate all the new electricity the nation is likely to need in 
coming decades,regardless of how that electricity is produced. And it's not 
flexible enough to handle the inconsistencies of renewable energy, which is 
less steady than the workhorses of coal and natural gas; the wind doesn't 
always blow, and the sun doesn't always shine.

In other words, it's dumb. It's not sophisticated enough to minimize 
electricity waste by allowing, for instance, power companies and consumer 
appliances to communicate about fluctuations in energy supply and demand.
........."

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB122479941639164453.html