Key issues of network requirements are availability of suitable networks, and identification of network requirements for each smart grid and smart transportation application.
The DOE last month received roughly 570 applications from utilities requesting as much as $14.6 billion in smart-grid funds—more than three times the amount available.
According to research company IDC Energy Insights, North American utilities are expected to spend $10.75 billion on computer hardware, software and services related to the smart grid this year, up from $7.56 billion in 2008.
$4.5 billion in federal stimulus funds are allocated for smart-grid projects.
Noah Horowitz, at the Natural Resources Defense Council, calculated that the nation’s gaming consoles,
like the Xbox 360 from Microsoft and the Sony PlayStation 3, now use about the same amount of electricity each year as San Diego, the ninth-largest city in the country.
According to the IEA, building the equivalent of 560 coal-fired power plants
or 230 nuclear plants will be necessary to satisfy the demand that gadgets will require.
Worldwide, consumer electronics now represent 15 percent of household power demand,
and that is expected to triple over the next two decades, according to the International Energy Agency.
U.S. energy efficiency rose by nearly 8 percent from 2000 to 2003, one of the fastest growth rates in the world.
U.S. energy efficiency rose by nearly 8 percent from 2000-2003, one of the fastest growth rates in the world.
An online bookstore like Amazon.com uses less than a tenth as much energy as a traditional bookstore.