Blog Phase 7

The three sources I will include into my FAR is, "It's our way or the highway, The Great Green Grid, and Smart grid". I chose these sources because they are similar to my first source that started with the blog phase one and have more detail about the energy grid. My knowledge of the topic changed since February is by understanding the meaning and facts about the energy and how the smart grid will make and replace the old grid into a better and more improved grid. The analytical question that will guide me as I write my FAR is," what and how will the smart grid be the best option for a up-to-date grid?" This approach has worked well for me because i was able to gather a lot of information about grids that will help me to figure out what I am doing with my FAR project and has also taught me how to do technical writing with blogging. If I could change anything about how I approached this blog project, it would be looking more into about blackouts instead of just the grid system because I would know more about how the grid runs to power back ups again after a blackout which would help me find better,more detailed, sources about the grid.

Phase six

‘Smart grid’ gets big stimulus from US recovery plan.

http://web.ebscohost.com.ezproxy.hacc.edu/ehost/detail?vid=4&sid=9a1d0388-ea88-418c-88a8-e699e3f50126%40sessionmgr14&hid=19&bdata=JnNpdGU9ZWhvc3QtbGl2ZQ%3d%3d#db=f5h&AN=38028208

This article talks about the money it is going to take to build the new grid which will be a expansion of wind, solar, and geothermal energy to make it a “smart” grid. It will help consumers to lower their bills instead of plants and transmission lines making the cost high and stressing out the consumers. It will respond and detect problems that occur and is more secure and capable of withstanding cyber attacks and physical attacks. It also says about government officials, business and labor leaders, and environmentalists attended the session to talk about the smart grid and the features it will provide.

The CRAAP evaluation shows that for currency the information was published April 2009, the information has not been revised and the topic will require current information seeing how this was writing back in 2009 and it is now 2013, also the links are functional. For relevance, the information does relate to my topic and the intended audience is for people interested in the smart grid and about how it will help with cost, the information is at an appropriate level and I have looked at a variety of sources (2 sources) before determining this is the one I was going to use and also I would be comfortable citing this source in my research paper because it does have information that I am looking for that is similar to my U.S. Energy Grid source. For authority, the author is Kramer, David and the author is qualified to write on the topic, there is no contact information and the URL reveals an .edu. For accuracy, the information comes from Physics Today and the information is supported by evidence, the information has not been reviewed or refereed and I can verify any of the information from personal knowledge and the language or tone seems unbiased and there is not spelling, grammar or typographical errors. For purpose, the purpose of the information is to inform and yes, the author make his intention clear and the information is opinion and some fact, also there are political biases.

The passage that was interested to me was about the standards are needed section. This passage surprised me with how a member of the committee. On energy and natural resources said about lack of standards as the biggest impediment to modernization because I thought the new smart grid was suppose to have high standards with all the energy saving it will do. Further questions this information raise that might be worth investigating is from what Evan Gaddis said about the slow progress on standards, if the standards are slow progressing, then what will that mean for cost and making it eco friendly. This question is important to me because in this economy not a lot of people have enough money to pay for high standard smart grid since they are taking their time with progress.

Why we need a smarter grid

http://web.ebscohost.com.ezproxy.hacc.edu/ehost/detail?vid=10&sid=9a1d0388-ea88-418c-88a8-e699e3f50126%40sessionmgr14&hid=19&bdata=JnNpdGU9ZWhvc3QtbGl2ZQ%3d%3d#db=f5h&AN=83702929

This article is about how Spain renewable energy in which more than half of Spain was powered by wind and how there was a problem with how it was not connected to the rest of Europe. Which caused for technicians to shut off windmills to avoid overloading the electricity grid and how electricity-wind can be unpredictable and send excess electricity into a calibrated power grid? With the energy supplies far away, it’s hard to power the entire nation and without money in new high voltage power lines then the windmills will be useless. The electrical grids are really old and with rickety networks that cover a few states, which further complicates national borders.

The CRAAP evaluation shows that for currency the information was published 8 November, 2009 and the information has not been revised or updated, the topic requires current information since it was from 2009 and the links are functional. For relevance, the information relates to my topic and the intended audience is people who are interested with power grids and renewable energy, the information is at an appropriate level and I have looked at a variety of sources before determining this one I was going to use and I would not be comfortable citing this source in my research paper because it does not have a author. For authority, the source is National Geographic and the source is qualified to write on the topic and there is not contact information, the URL reveals it is an .edu. For accuracy, the information comes from New Scientist and the information is supported by evidence and the information has not been reviewed, I can verify any of the information from personal knowledge and the language or tone is free of emotion and there is no spelling, grammar or typographical errors. For purpose, the purpose of the information is to inform and the sponsor make their purpose clear and the information is fact and some opinion, there are ideological and cultural biases.

This passage interests me because it talks about a new way for renewable energy which is wind energy. The passage surprised me with the wind energy idea because it would be better to use instead of power lines and big transformers. As long as the wind keeps coming but they would need to make a lot of windmills in order to power a whole nation with wind. The passage taught me that I did not already know was about thinking about windmills and using them to our advantage on windy days to make less stress. On the transformers and electric power lines and this information is helpful in answering my research questions by taking a second look at how more eco friendly we can make the smart grid with wind power.

Responding to sources

Martin, Mike. (2010, July/August). The Great Green Grid. 21, 23-29.

http://search.proquest.com.ezproxy.hacc.edu/pqrl/docview/577663735/13D1E28640474BD99C8/6?accountid=11302

“The Great Green Grid” article says about how the grid we have now just moves electricity in one direction and the smart grid. If installed, would allow electronics to communicate with each other and help manage customers’ energy costs and usage. This article also speaks about who is going to pay for the smart grid and how politics are likely to slow efforts for finding consumers to pay for the new grid ahead of time. The smart grid requires monitoring technology in every home to see how families are using more then what they need for electricity. Pilot programs are happening from small to big picture already and say how different states are already installing smart grids or even trying to do better than the smart grid and make up their own way of renewable energy electricity.

The passage that interests me is about privacy concerns that go with the smart grid and if the smart grid is installed. Then there will be monitoring of homes and families will not have much privacy and this passage surprises me because I did not know the smart grid needed to have monitoring technology in homes in order to make a difference with cost and security. My question about the information that might be worth investigating is how a pilot project have anything to do with the smart grid. This question is important to me because it would help me make more sense about the smart grid and help me understand what pilot projects means.

Greenfield, Dave. (2009, November 9). Is the smart grid a dumb idea. 26, S10-S11, S14-S16, S18-S20

http://search.proquest.com.ezproxy.hacc.edu/pqrl/docview/198553536/13D1E83658E4AB5C7E2/35?accountid=11302

This source agrees with what my first source says about the smart grid and how it will help improve homes and companies. I see this source agreeing with my first source from how my second source says about blackouts occurring more and more every year. Also my second source agrees with how the smart grid could improve security, reliability, and have a green footprint to help the world also. The second source speaks about how the smart grid is going to get funded and agrees with that other states are already developing the smart grid.

Evaluating Sources

http://web.ebscohost.com.ezproxy.hacc.edu/ehost/detail?vid=3&sid=eca3627d-ba4f-47ce-8479-c8bf196bf7cf%40sessionmgr11&hid=1&bdata=JnNpdGU9ZWhvc3QtbGl2ZQ%3d%3d#db=f5h&AN=83413877

The article found from the library’s website is called, “Storm surge switches the grid to “off” and for currency the date of the article is January 12, 2012 that was when the information was published. The information has not be revised or updated and the older sources work as well and yes, the links are functional. The next part for relevance is that the information does relate to my topic but does not answer my question and the intended audience is for anyone who is interested in this topic. The information is not too elementary but needs to be advanced some more to know more about the information and yes, I did look at a variety of sources (3 articles) before determining this one I was going to use that was closest to my topic. I would be more comfortable citing this source in my research paper if it was closer to the date of when my topic about “U.S. Energy Grid” went on.

 Authority is that the article is by Russell, Pam Radtke and the source is ENR: Engineering News-Record and I am not sure about the author’s credentials or organizational affiliations but the author is qualified to write on the topic. There is no contact information and the URL does not reveal anything about the author or source. For accuracy, the information comes from ENR: Engineering News-Record and the information are supported by evidence. The information has not been reviewed or refereed and yes, I can verify any of the information in the other source. The language or tone does seem unbiased but does have emotion like sadness and anger of what happened and there is no spelling, grammar or typographical errors in this information. For purpose the purpose of the information is to inform about what the storm called, “Sandy” caused to the energy grid and the author makes his intentions clear. The information is both fact and opinion and the point of view appears objective, there are political and cultural biases.

http://articles.washingtonpost.com/2012-10-11/opinions/35499513_1_wind-tax-credit-wind-turbines-megawatts-of-wind-generation

The article found form Google is called, “Why the U.S. needs a networked energy grid” and for currency the date the information was published is October 11, 2012. The information has not been revised or updated and the older sources work for this topic and there are no links for this topic. For relevance the information does relate to my topic and the intended audience is for people who know about the networked energy grid, the information is advanced for my needs and I have looked at 2 sources before determining this is the one I was going to use. I would not be comfortable citing this source in my research paper because it would need to be less advanced for my paper. For authority, the topic is by C. Boyden Gray and I am not sure about the author’s credentials or organizational affiliations, the author is qualified to write on this topic.
There is no contact information and the URL does not reveal anything about the author or source. As for accuracy, the topic does not say where the information comes from and the information is not supported by evidence. The information has been reviewed and I can verify the information from personal knowledge, the language or tone seem unbiased and free of emotion and there is no spelling, grammar or typographical errors. For purpose, the information’s purpose was to inform about the wind-production tax credit and the kilowatt-hours and the author does make his intention and purpose clear. The information is fact, the point of view appears objective and there are political and ideological biases.

The credibility of these two sources is different from each other based on my analysis the first source is credible because it is more related to my topic then the second source. The first source is about how the huge storm, Sandy which destroyed a great part of the energy grid and brought light to changing the way the energy grid. Is for the future if another disaster happens and my topic is about how the transformers malfunctioned and a blackout happened everywhere because of the grid system being old so they are planning on making a smart gird to be able to be strong. The second source is about pricing that is being used for something other than for fixing the grid and wanting more “feel-good” energy policy like wind turbines. Which is close but not what I am looking for credible for my topic since my does say about a smart grid, it does not say a lot about money wise and I am more interested about how they plan on putting the new grid in, I am not looking for how much money it will take to make this smart grid happen.

Sources On the Energy Grid

For my first source, it talks about how the US energy grid is going to try to be better on the environmental footprint and avoid liquefied natural gas and how long it might take to change the old with the new. The reason why it is taking so long to happen is because investors would much rather build plants that makes the cost go up for our nation and is hard on the environmental footprint. For having a better footprint on Earth, we would need to have the investors invest in projects like building large wind farms for clean energy and have clean coal and nuclear plants to help the land. Trying to get these resources is a problem since they are often remotely located and will need to bring to urban markets but expectations are growing for this new energy grid.

My second source talks about this smart grid might not be real and the difference between transmission and distribution. Even though the U.S. Department of Energy attended a meeting about the grid all they came up with was a term to call it which is called, “smart grid”. Since the smart grid is not getting built anytime soon, this means higher electric prices and more risk in result of a grid failure. It is not clear if the technical view is going to make it reality or is it going to be a political view where money will build the smart grid.

I chose these two sources because they talk about the US energy grid and how it is going to affect the world and the future of electricity. I find interesting about the first source is that it talked about the environmental footprint the grid will have on Earth because I feel like the footprint is a big thing. For keeping this world to keep going and if we do not do anything now we will all pay for it sooner or later. The second source I found interesting because it talked about how the smart grid might not be real since people cannot decide if it is going to make a change in the world or not and they rather just stick to how things are going now.

My grasp on the topic so far is that this grid is going to change the world if it happens and when it does it will help the Earth and help the people. I understand the issue pretty good since I am studying to be an electrician and will need to know about the power grids and how they work so if they do fail I can fix them. A additional question I have about my topic is that how are they going to make this smart grid, like where are they going to put it and what materials is it going to be made out of. I hope to learn next about my topic is how it will work on being better than the old energy grid.

Citing
Krapels, Edward; Conant, Stephen. (2008, November). US grid: it’s our way or the highway. 16. 74, 76-77.
Kennedy, Maize. (2007, June). Features. .Transmission: Smart grid still just a vision thing. 151. 68                      

Topic from Database

My topic is US Energy Grid and I learned of this problem when I was 12 after I woke up to no electricity and went out to ask my dad what had happened and that's when I found out about the blackout at New York which affected some of Pennsylvania as well and wandered how a wide-scale blackout can occur. I am interested in the US Energy Grid topic because if I am going to be a electrician, I will have to deal with major blackouts that occur and deal with fixing the problem if it is from power lines or transformers which is part of my field. Researching this topic can help me on the job by learning of a new grid system called, "smart grid" which can cause increased efficiency, low costs, and promote Eco-friendly energy, which in turn can help prevent blackouts and make more jobs for electricians so we can change out the old with the new in a faster time to make more people happy and would cost less than when blackouts would occur less. I already knew about the topic is that the blackout affected New York with being out of electricity for over 24 hours or more than 3 days in the hot summer and they had a lot of traffic accidents because of the lights being out also. I hope to learn more about how much electricity affected people when the blackout occurred and how the smart gird can help. The audience that could be interested in this blog would be electricians and someone who was curious about the wide-scale blackout.