Get Smart

摘要

ENERGY GENERATION, CONSUMPTION, AND CONSERVATION ARE AT the root of many of the most pressing issues facing society today. Demand continues to rise steadily while the ability to generate and deliver energy is increasing at a much slower rate. In addition, as stated by the secretary of the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE), Steven Chu, in his Grid Week 2009 presentation, 25% of U.S. power generation and 10% of its distribution assets are associated with electricity generation required during the roughly 400 hours of annual peak-energy-use periods, which represent hundreds of billions of dollars in investments. Furthermore, in the United States, more than half of the electricity produced is wasted due to power generation and distribution inefficiencies, according to 2002 Energy Flow Trends data from the DOE. Very simply, using less energy in our daily lives, making more efficient use of the energy we do produce, and reducing global greenhouse-gas emissions associated with energy generation are fundamental to our continued collective prosperity and quality of life.