As reported recently in Bloomberg news micro grids are threatening the hegemony of the electric utilities.
UCSD, for example, claims they save $850,000 a month because they have deployed their own micro grid on the university campus. Micro grids not only save energy costs, but they can significantly reduce GHG emissions and provide more reliable electrical service. Reliability will be of increasing concern as various studies have shown that the electrical grid is suffering increasing outages because of severe weather due to climate change.
Up to now network engineers have taken little consideration into using micro grids for powering their networks and computers. But network devices are ideally suited for being powered by micro grids that use renewable energy. Most network devices have various power modes, battery backup and can re-route traffic based on availability of power. They have a lot more intelligence than most devices connected to the power grid to enable smart power management.
Managing the power distribution and flow of power between network devices is very similar in concept to managing data flows. With micro grids there are multiple sources of power such as local solar panels, eVehicles, etc. There are also multiple ways of distributing power to network devices such as PoE, pulsed Cat 5, USB, multiplex 400/60/50 hz, etc. Various flavors of Software Defined Network technology such as UCLP, OpenNaaS, Open Daylight etc are ideal for managing the routing of these power flows, much in the same way as they can manage different types of data flows. Concepts of virtual power networks are possible.
Inocbye for example has developed a "sustainable" SDN controller that is aware of its power sources and allow network managers to configure SDN networks that use renewable energy for example.
For more information:
UCSD saves $850k/month in electricity and less GHG emissions with microgrids http://mobile.bloomberg.com/news/2013-10-17/ebay-to-ellison-embrace-microgrids-in-threat-to-utilities.html
Inocybe Technologies Launches Sustainable SDN Controller Powered by OpenDaylight http://bit.ly/LJwFqH
Developing Climate Change Preparedness Plans using integration of micro grids and data networks
http://www.slideshare.net/bstarn/nren-climate-change-preparedness
This blog is about using ICTs to develop climate change preparedness solutions built around Energy Internet and autonomous eVehicles
Energy Internet and eVehicles Overview
Governments around the world are wrestling with the challenge of how to prepare society for inevitable climate change. To date most people have been focused on how to reduce Green House Gas emissions, but now there is growing recognition that regardless of what we do to mitigate against climate change the planet is going to be significantly warmer in the coming years with all the attendant problems of more frequent droughts, flooding, sever storms, etc. As such we need to invest in solutions that provide a more robust and resilient infrastructure to withstand this environmental onslaught especially for our electrical and telecommunications systems and at the same time reduce our carbon footprint.
Using autonomous eVehicles for Renewable Energy Transportation and Distribution: http://goo.gl/bXO6x and http://goo.gl/UDz37
Free High Speed Internet to the Home or School Integrated with solar roof top: http://goo.gl/wGjVG
High level architecture of Internet Networks to survive Climate Change: https://goo.gl/24SiUP
Architecture and routing protocols for Energy Internet: http://goo.gl/niWy1g
How to use Green Bond Funds to underwrite costs of new network and energy infrastructure: https://goo.gl/74Bptd