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