The first city with a smart grid.
Boulder, Colorado is the first city with a smart grid. Some homes here can already manage their own energy-saving technologies.
Residents of Boulder, Colorado have a reputation for being environmentally conscious. Biking and walking, parks and open space make up much of the picturesque western city.
Boulder residents’ passion for the environment also manifests itself in the use of cutting-edge technologies that were only recently the stuff of science fiction novels. As the city transforms into the first smart grid city in the United States, such innovative technologies are now coming to everyday homes.
Soon, 50,000 Boulder homes will be filled with the latest green, energy-saving technologies — Solar panels, electric cars and, in some homes, specialized heating, cooling and lighting systems will all be integrated into a monitoring system that reports the home’s carbon footprint to the homeowner.
«We like to think of the smart grid as reconciling the world of Thomas Edison with the world of Bill Gates», — says Ray Gogel of Xcel Energy, the utility company involved in installing the new system. Xcel, along with several green high-tech companies, invested $100 million to transform Boulder into a living laboratory.»We are doing something that is needed the whole world», — Gogel continues.
University of Colorado President Bud Peterson and his wife, Val Peterson, were the first to allow Xcel to transform their home. The company’s specialists placed solar panels on the roof, supplied them with a new smart electricity meter and gave them a hybrid electric car that connects to the house. The new system allows Val Peterson to easily manage her energy consumption.
«I just log into the computer and tell my house and car what to do, and then I leave,— she says. — The solar panels talk to my house, my house talks to the car. This — wonderful system.
These high-tech devices make the Petersons’ home so efficient that they don’t just use less electricity, sometimes they save so much energy that their meter essentially runs backwards. Excess electricity is stored in the home, charging the car’s batteries and providing them with a two-day backup power source. Since families began participating in the program, they have produced 2,700 kg less combustion products while saving enough energy to cook 154 pizzas. Multiply that by 50,000 customers — number of systems currently awaiting installation — this can have a strong impact
Another city resident with a smart grid has made his home so efficient that his utility bills are going to zero. «Our monthly bills are only $3», — he says.
Each home’s smart meter tracks where the energy that powers the home comes from. Bud Peterson believes this system could change the way consumers buy energy.
«Today, when we buy an airline ticket online, we can select a ticket from a list by date, price or airline, — he says. — With this new system, we are able to choose whether we want to use renewable energy sources or continue to use the energy of burning coal.
The Petersons can make all decisions remotely from anywhere in the world using the Internet.
«If we leave for the weekend, and suddenly realize that we left the air conditioner on, or some other appliances, then we can go to the Internet from any computer, iPod or iPhone, and change the settings of the house, controlling the thermostat adjustment or more electrical appliances», — Bud Peterson says.
This is — a system that forces users like Val Peterson to look even further into the future.
«You have a GPS locator that knows your location, and in fact, you can program the system to turn the air conditioner on and off based on your location», — she says.
Gogel believes that their project will prove to the world that these types of systems — the future of energy.
«I really believe that in the future they will become a standard that will be included in all new homes, — Gogel finishes. — You want to have a zero energy home. In the long run it makes sense».
However, for now Boulder — the only city that uses this energy, showing America how to save money.