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Read the article titled “Aging US Power Grid Blacks Out More Than Any Other Developed Nation” under the Smart Grid terms section of the Science Corner. You can also view the article at http://www.ibtimes.com/aging-us-power-grid-blacks-out-more-any-other-developed-nation-1631086. Next, assess the efficiency of the current state of the national electric grid in the United States. Then, describe the key challenges in updating this grid to a so-called “smart grid”.

  I picked the above question since it deals directly with my job and hampers us in growing of our equipment base alot of the time. I work on computers and not just laptop type but large computers that take up rooms and rooms of space and power. As computers get smaller and smarter they take more power to run and we require more power from the power companies but they in most cases donthave the cabling or equipment to provide the power. Just because a building has a copper connection going into it doent mean it has unlimited power growth, its like a fuse if enough power goes across that cable it will heat up and in some cases fail and also the equipment providing the power will fail. One way we can tell if the equipment load is too much for the power supplier is the temperature of the cable and if really bad place a thin metal object on the cable and if overloaded it will cause the metal object to turn in the direction of the cable like magic. This is the main issue with the state of the United States power grib in that it was installed “many” years ago but now with technologies advancing and needed more power and addition to the population growth the system built years ago justisnt large enough to handle the draw on it from the far end power consumer.

  If you look along most old streets you’ll still see aging old power lines hanging where as newer neighborhoods are placing power lines below the ground to protect them during storms or even the average branch failing that could take power line out. In some outages the power lines themselves are just too small. Think of it as a funnel and your trying to push and cram all this power down the funnel and onto one line, in most cases it could cause failures. A copper line can only take so much before it breaks. Think of it like a fuse, when too much power goes through a fuse it snaps due to the wire heating and not being able to hand the excess draw on it . That example is on a small scale but the same principle applies to the larger power cables, if drawing to much power they will heat and if heated enough their reliability will suffer. The main reason most power lines are old is most are using copper which conducts electricty well but is expensive to replace. Now companies are using aluminum which is less expensive and easier to replace but doesn’t conduct as well as copper so even though replacing the copper wires now its with an inferior product. This comes to the main reason going to a smart grid or upgrading the power lines is going slow and that is the financial cost. At my work we are monitored remotely but our electric bill is in the thousands every month and we run 3 phase system due to high power draw so the financial benefit is there but the average persons house where the bill is a hundred or more, why spend millions to monitor that person.  

  Also as technology grows the power supply technology still operates at a fairly simple and basic level. There is a power source which has cables that connect to whatever is drawing the power, its a basic layer 1 principle of physical connectivity and the technology is slow to advance in this area. Where advancements can be made is at the users end in the addition of smart appliances with help lower the drain on the power system. Also the advancement of wind, solar, water power help supplement the power that is being drained by the end user. With the price of fossil fuels, coal, and any other not easily renewable resource rising using alternate energy sources are an easy choice for companies to go to, to supplement their dwindling power supply. Also with the ever growing use of solar, wind, and water as a power source the technology that is being applied to these newer power source is also newer and not still in the old times like the technology used to monitor the old power supply means. Some of the power monitoring advancements are so simply to apply you now have many people that are creating their own power grids with solar power and in the end also relieving some of the demand on the current power system.

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