President Barack Obama announced on Tuesday that his administration plans to spend $3.4 billion on producing a safer, more efficient electrical grid. Obama underscored the need to find clean forms of energy by making his announcement at a solar energy facility in Arcadia, Fla. This government infusion of funds — part of the $878 billion stimulus package approved by Congress earlier in the year — represents the largest modernization in the nation’s electrical infrastructure. The $3.4 billion in federal money will be matched by contributions from private companies, resulting in a total grid-improvement package estimated to be about $8 billion. Of the federal money, about $1 billion will be directed at helping consumers use less energy or use energy more wisely. This could mean subsidies for buying more efficient appliances or incentives for using electricity at different times of the day. About $2 billion will be targeted at making the outlying components of the grid more reliable. This requires the deployment of more sensors and automatic turn-off mechanisms that operate during emergencies. About $400 million will be invested in streamlining the bulk movement of power across high-voltage power lines. A better effort will be made to integrate renewable […]
Friday, October 30th, 2009
How Obama Plans To Spend Billions On Modernizing The U.S. Electrical Network
Author: PHILLIP F. SCHEWE
Source: PHYSORG.COM
Publication Date: October 29th, 2009
Link: How Obama Plans To Spend Billions On Modernizing The U.S. Electrical Network
Source: PHYSORG.COM
Publication Date: October 29th, 2009
Link: How Obama Plans To Spend Billions On Modernizing The U.S. Electrical Network
Stephan: This is going to fund the Third Migration: the movement of population into the central corridor wind states, creating hundreds of thousands of jobs.
In terms of total jobs, however, it also illustrates what has happened as the result of the virtual state multinational corporations outsourcing manufacturing to cheaper labor sources. With profit as the only value, this left America jobless and with degraded manufacturing capacity. As you will see below:
'In Senate testimony on Tuesday, Energy Secretary Steven Chu reflected on the issue of smart energy, especially as it relates to renewable energy. He pointed the fact that almost all of the batteries used in hybrid cars driven in the U.S. are made in Japan and that the percentage of solar cells made in the U.S. had fallen from 40 percent in the 1990s to the current level of 7 percent.'
Also remember that parallel to this centralized approach pulses a decentralized energy system trying to be born. In this model, which I favor, each house or building generates its own power, and contributes to a system in which nearby commercial and civic buildings -- hospitals, for instance -- that require more power than they can generate themselves are supported by the people they serve. This without requiring them to give up tax income.
