Comments on: Smart Grid ploy to grab stimulus funds http://www.off-grid.net/2009/06/11/smart-grid-ploy-to-grab-stimulus-funds/ off the grid real estate, survival,preppers, solar, self-sufficient, eco-village, low-impact, zero-carbon, Renewable energy,ships, Fuel Cells, batteries, Solar panels, Wind turbines, MicroHydro, Biomass, Bushcraft Thu, 11 Mar 2010 17:36:21 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.9.1 hourly 1 By: Lornkanaga http://www.off-grid.net/2009/06/11/smart-grid-ploy-to-grab-stimulus-funds/comment-page-1/#comment-230642 Lornkanaga Fri, 12 Jun 2009 18:55:51 +0000 http://www.off-grid.net/?p=3761#comment-230642 I'll agree that the power companies have been lazy. I'll even toss in stupid for not educating themselves on how various technologies could make their businesses run more efficiently and therefore more profitably. But greedy? If the power companies were as greedy as you state they are, they would have done all these fixes and heavily invested in alternative energy/renewables a long time ago. Greed is about the bottom line--making the most amount of money for the least expenditure. The power companies have been run more like bureaucracies in the last 50-75 years than profit-making ventures, which is how the grid has gotten into such bad shape. As for stimulus money, money spent is money spent--as long as it's not sent overseas, it's spent in our economy and affects us all positively. Lastly, once the grid *is* fixed, it will better handle all the private (and grid-tied) wind, solar, and hydro energy being generated by those of us who have installed/are installing these systems. Plus, the more systems installed, the lower the price of these systems become, so more people can afford bigger and better private wind, solar, and hydro energy systems, which makes more (and cheaper) power available for all. Sounds like a good thing to me. I’ll agree that the power companies have been lazy. I’ll even toss in stupid for not educating themselves on how various technologies could make their businesses run more efficiently and therefore more profitably. But greedy? If the power companies were as greedy as you state they are, they would have done all these fixes and heavily invested in alternative energy/renewables a long time ago. Greed is about the bottom line–making the most amount of money for the least expenditure. The power companies have been run more like bureaucracies in the last 50-75 years than profit-making ventures, which is how the grid has gotten into such bad shape.

As for stimulus money, money spent is money spent–as long as it’s not sent overseas, it’s spent in our economy and affects us all positively.

Lastly, once the grid *is* fixed, it will better handle all the private (and grid-tied) wind, solar, and hydro energy being generated by those of us who have installed/are installing these systems. Plus, the more systems installed, the lower the price of these systems become, so more people can afford bigger and better private wind, solar, and hydro energy systems, which makes more (and cheaper) power available for all.

Sounds like a good thing to me.

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