Urban populations grow larger every day. Researchers predict that nearly 75% of the world's population will live in cities by the year 2050. As a result of this continued growth, there's a need -- and a demand -- for cities to build smarter infrastructures to ensure reliable operations and provide consistent, sustainable energy. In the digital age, cities are finding technology can help solve problems more quickly.
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If a $1 billion ghost town sounds to you like the set of sci-fi movie, think again. A company called Pegasus Global Holdings is constructing a town in Lea County, N.M. as a testing ground for the latest renewable energy technology and terrorism security systems. It will look like any other city, filled with office buildings, homes and roads, the BBC reports. The only difference from a regular city: no people will live there.
The smart-grid is an electrical grid that communicates. The idea is that the Internet and communications technology can make our electrical system far more resilient to problems like blackouts, better accommodate unconventional power sources, and ease energy demand by providing instant information about prices to consumers. Public investment in smart-grid infrastructure has ballooned over the past several years.
The "smart grid" is a rapidly growing set of technologies, processes, devices and applications that affect and enhance the traditional electric grid.
While Facebook may be the social media platform to beat, there’s an even more powerful social networking force that promises to be in all American homes one day. A growing number of startups are applying the principles of social networking to home energy management, and bringing social media to the smart grid. In the process, they are revolutionizing people’s understanding of their energy use, building successful companies and helping to lessen the impact of each individual on the environment.