Forbes Column 2009: The Smart-Grid Dilemma
Zero-In this week highlights the disconnect between capitalism, market forces and the need for a smarter, cleaner energy world. Read The Smart-Grid Dilemma.
Coming from a pure capitalist at heart, this is one of a series of columns you will be reading on the limitations of capitalism to do the right thing.
This segment is a part in the series : Forbes Column 2009
. Silencing India . Advice For Laid-Off Engineers . Success Tips For New Entrepreneurs . Barriers To Innovation . Open Source Means Business . India's Innovation Gap . US and India's Tech Dilemma . India - Where Angels Fear To Trade . An Entrepreneur Stimulus Plan . Recession Entrepreneurship . Gaming The Recession . The Smart-Grid Dilemma . Key To Innovation . An Innovation Conundrum . Green Jobs . Health Care's Big Opportunity . The Future Of E-Commerce . The Future Of Television . Consolidation Looms For SaaS . The Next Frontier In Search Marketing . A Time For AI . The SaaS Roll-Up Begins . Health Care IT's Diagnosis . Venture Capital . Mompreneurs . New Careers For Techies . What Amazon Should Buy Next . China's Innovation Advantage . The Long Road To Edutainment . Wall St. Vs. 'Virtual Street' . India's Idle Tech Talent . Building Your Personal Brand . New Ways To Mentor Entrepreneurs . Seducing A VC . The VC Quandary . The Education Solution . Tech M&A Heats Up . Entrepreneurs . Reading Your Customers' Minds . Capitalism's Fundamental Flaw . India's Next Celebrities . Retailers . Streamlining Innovation . Health Care's Email Prescription
I think you missed a key piece of research here: decoupling. California and
several other states *have* adopted policies decoupling the incentive of IOUs to
sell more power from profits.
http://www.narucmeetings.org/Presentations/Risser.pdf
That’s why PG&E will give you a refund if you buy an efficient appliance
because they can make money by selling less electricity.
A weak version of decoupling was placed in the stimulus bill. States that
accept block grants for energy efficiency research must make a good faith effort
to enact decoupling policies to go with the it otherwise you’d be right and the
tech would never be deployed.
The original house bill had much stronger language but it got diluted when the
moderate Senate faction went through the text.