Criteria A

As non-renewable sources of energy get depleted at a faster rate, the world has come to focus on the efficiency of renewable sources. ‘Clean energy’ is now the centre of attention of several major industries of the world. Two of these companies, Google and GE (General Electric) have teamed up to promote and use a ‘smart power grid’, better known as the ‘smart electric grid’ to provide safe and efficient electricity to the state of California (Shiels, Maggie, 18^th September 2008).

The Smart Grid uses modern technology more intensively than perhaps ever before. It includes advanced sensors and multiple computer technology. Another kind of knowledge being used in the new grid is the microprocessor chip (Wikipedia, 2008). In comparison to this, the old grid only transmits electricity form a power station. Despite the fact that the old grid is perhaps cheaper than the new version, it contributes to several environmental issues, a major one being the greenhouse effect.

The concern for efficiency in today’s world brings up an important question: will this system match up the requirements of an average person in society? Both companies are aiming at making this technology easily accessible to the common man-but is it advantageous to have the smart grid or will it just broaden the gap between man and machine? With more advance gadgets being created virtually every day, people have begun to find it hard to keep up with technology.

Financing this project will be much more expensive (LaMonica, Martin, September 18 2008). This is bad news not only for the business but also for their potential customers as the product itself would be quite high-priced. So is the smart grid beneficent or not?