Meet Sad Socket
Sad Socket is determined to become glad. Since 2008, he and the Galvin Electricity Initiative have advocated for a stronger power distribution grid and championed the Electricity Consumer Principles — policies that maximize consumer benefits, encourage innovation and promote the full utilization of smart grid advances such as renewable energy, plug-in vehicles, microgrids and more.
To make grid transformation happen, we need your help. Here are eight reasons why you should join Sad Socket and the Initiative to demand that utilities, policymakers and regulators adopt the Electricity Consumer Principles and a Policy Framework and create a consumer-focused electric power system that is clean, reliable, efficient and secure.
- We need electricity as much as oil.
- Power outages cost the American economy billions.
- To take full advantage of clean energy, we need a smarter grid.
- Improving the electricity infrastructure will reduce the U.S. carbon footprint.
- America is losing its global competitiveness.
- Electricity customers need more control and choice.
- Our current electricity grid is vulnerable to terrorists and even furry rodents.
- The time for grid modernization is now.
We need electricity as much as oil.
Americans are just as dependent on electricity as we are on oil. We use electricity to power our lives — for transportation, health care, business, leisure and national security. We are dependent on an outdated, unreliable and polluting electricity grid to provide us the necessary power to our homes, businesses and lives. Without electricity, our communities and economies shut down. Without reliable power, business operations and American lives are placed in jeopardy.
Power outages cost the American economy billions.
America loses at least $150 billion a year due to power outages. The economy is already struggling without having to absorb the tremendous cost to American businesses when even a momentary power outage occurs. We have already developed the technology that can make our power system identify faults and correct them automatically, eliminating most power outages and preventing minor local interruptions from cascading and blacking out large portions of the country. Smart grid technology allows the grid to provide homes and businesses with more reliable power. Eliminating power interruptions yields substantial economic benefits for our businesses and our pocketbooks.
To take full advantage of clean energy, we need a smarter grid.
We all agree that we need to start generating more electricity from alternative sources of energy — solar, wind, geothermal and biomass energy. However, to generate power from Earth-friendly renewable sources, we need a grid that is smart enough to automatically adapt to the fluctuations of these energy sources. Right now, our electricity grid is too old and obsolete to be flexible or responsive. It needs more modern and smarter infrastructure improvements that can accommodate these cleaner options for electricity generation and create a sustainable economic and environmental future for Americans.
Improving the electricity infrastructure will reduce the U.S. carbon footprint.
Want to stop climate change and cut America’s carbon emissions? Improve the U.S. electricity infrastructure. Our inefficient electricity generation and use is polluting our atmosphere. Nearly 40 percent of U.S. carbon emissions are created by electricity, making it one of the primary contributors to global warming — even more than carbon generated by transportation. Approximately two-thirds of our electricity is lost during generation and delivery over power lines before it even reaches consumers. So, consumers are paying for wasted electricity — electricity that they won’t get a chance to ever use. A smart power system will give households and business the opportunities and incentives they need to be efficient and to save money.
America is losing its global competitiveness.
Europe, Asia and even Third-World countries are adding smart grid technologies to their electricity infrastructure to provide their citizens with more reliable, efficient and cleaner power. As a result, these efforts have opened new business markets and opportunities for innovation and entrepreneurship. If we don’t get on board the “smart grid” train, we will be left behind and our credibility as the global technology and business leader will be undermined.
Electricity customers need more control and choice.
Several states assumed that deregulating the electricity industry was the best way to offer electricity customers more choice and control over their energy use and electricity bills. While deregulation offers consumers a competitive retail environment, it does not guarantee that the current grid infrastructure can sustain these advanced options or that consumers are provided price signals by utilities to make informed decisions about their energy usage. Today’s electricity grid is not smart enough to integrate demand response technologies, such as smart meters and other tools, which provide consumers with quality power and the opportunity to manage the quantity and pricing of their electricity use.
Our current electricity grid is vulnerable to terrorists and even furry rodents.
Imagine an entire blackout being caused by a mischievous squirrel. Since transmission lines, transformers, substations and other grid infrastructure are exposed to the elements, curious rodents, such as squirrels and raccoons, wander into unprotected power infrastructure and cause power interruptions and outages that can threaten a neighborhood, city or an entire region. So if the grid could be affected by a squirrel, imagine how insecure and vulnerable the electricity grid is to sinister human elements. Even Congress is concerned about the vulnerability of the power system to attacks and has funded government studies to examine the security weaknesses of our power system.
The time for grid modernization is now.
Not in a few years, but yesterday. We stopped upgrading the U.S. electricity system when President Lyndon B. Johnson was in the White House. Since then, the grid has survived on a starvation diet of little innovation or investment — outdated and still manually operated and maintained in spite of this automated age. Grid modernization must happen now, and utilities, policymakers and regulators must work together to remove the policy and technical barriers to modernization. By making this a priority, we can avoid a perfect storm of rising energy costs, dependence on foreign energy sources and environmental threats, including climate change. We’ve waited too long. It’s time to bring the U.S. power system into the 21st century. Take action now.
