Recently, heat-driven storms pounded the East Coast knocked out power to 3 million homes and businesses. Over a million were still in the dark a week later.
According to an article from Discovery News, new technology may help restore power more quickly, but that we are stuck with our line-and-pole distribution system for decades to come. In other words, we will still have power outages and blackouts.
One solution is to make power locally produced. The idea combines small-scale power generation with bigger batteries inside the home as a way of weaning households off the electric grid. This scenario could be a reliable and quieter back-up system than using a diesel generator during blackouts.
Some communities are already testing home-powered electric storage systems that utilize solar panels, electrical vehicles and smart- metering technology to allow homeowners greater freedom from energy grids. Solar cells generate power, which is stored in EV, which is then used to power home appliances in case of emergency.
The smart grid is advertized as a way for utilities to take advantage of wireless technology and more advanced software systems to allow companies to get a better handle on outages and to reroute power around problem areas.
Smart meters are essential in modernizing a power grid because these devices collect information about power use by the hour from homes and send it to utilities.
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