Smarter Grids

Hey sports fans, I know it's been a while since I've blogged, but I've had a lot of good blog ideas lately, and it's time I cowboy up. You'll be relieved to know that this isn't going to be about sports, but instead, about smarter energy and traffic grids.

Lately, I've been hearing a lot of tech commercials on the radio about using "smarter grids" to improve the world. Let me put it out there right now that I am not an expert on any kind of grid, but I do like technology, and I am all for improving the world. I think that developing smarter energy is of critical importance and that quite frankly, we completely overvalue reducing automotive emissions and completely undervalue alternative energy sources. Hybrid cars are not the only possible answer to the energy crisis. Renewable clean energy sources, such as wind energy, provide much more value in my opinion. They would make an electric car so much more viable - currently it's just swapping burning petroleum for burning coal. Lesser of two evils perhaps, but we can do better!

Anyways, what bothers me about this commercial is that they brag about how the city of Stockholm recently introduced a "Congestion pricing" system, which you can read about here on Wikipedia. Essentially, this means you have to pay to drive in Stockholm during certain time periods. They have a similar system in many places, like London. What bothers me is that this commercial boasts it has reduced congestion by 20% (good) and carbon emissions by 12% (also good), but they declare this is a smarter grid produced using all this wonderful technology. I have to disagree. It seems to me like they've simply made it a financial burden on people to drive during these times and declared they've built a smarter grid.

I think all they've really done is made a more expensive grid and declared themselves brilliant. Pricing people out of the market doesn't make it any smarter. There's no great leap forward with technology there. You've accomplished two goals, reducing congestion and carbon emissions, but you've created other problems, namely that it is now too expensive for some people to be able to get to where they need to go. Because you now have to pay to drive, rich people are rewarded with less traffic, while people who may have to stretch their money further are greatly inconvenienced. Reducing congestion and emissions by forcing people of less means to find other methods of transportation hardly seem like a genius idea to me.

I mean, let's say the US government decides to start charging an extra $4 tax on a pack of cigarettes, so less people die of lung disease and the government then declares they've developed a smarter cigarette. It would be ludicrous. So why is making driving more expensive some super smart concept? To me, a smarter grid would be one that manages to move just as many people, but in a more efficient and environmentally friendly way.

Thoughts?