The world suppliers can do better for us. The latest technology, smart grids or “SmartGrids”, provides a far more attractive 60% efficiency. How it works? “A smart grid delivers electricity from suppliers to consumers using digital technology to save energy, reduce cost and increase reliability,” explains Wikipedia.

My state, the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, is theoretically on board. MA electricity providers responded to Governer Deval Patrick’s request for smart grid proposals. The Boston Globe’s interview with Stephen Connors, a researcher at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology’s Energy Initiative, explains the attraction. Environmentalists and others have been pushing for smart-grid technology for over a decade because it will enable consumers to use less electricity and benefit the environment. “Eventually, smart grids will also incorporate renewable energy - such as wind and solar power, and even electric cars - and feature software applications that reduce consumption during peak-demand times, as well as help power companies identify outages.” For example, the technology will note when you are not home and shut down nonessential components.

The two specific Massachusetts electricity service providers serving the highly populated eastern MA region have proposed the following pilot programs:

1. National Grid’s two-year pilot proposal installs approximately 15,000 meters that read energy consumption almost in real-time. “Customers could access the information via the Internet, by a thermostat readout, or through text messaging, and use the data to change their consumption patterns,” reports the Boston Globe. The cost of the program for the 1.3 million customers would be approximately $ 57 million dollars, which represents less than a dollar per month cost to customers, but an approximate savings of $70 dollars per year.

2. “NStar’s plan, meanwhile, calls for partnering with Tendril Networks Inc., a Colorado energy-efficiency company, to provide nearly 3,000 customers in Newton and Hopkinton [Boston area cities] with energy-consumption information - accessible on the Web - gathered from electricity meters every 15 seconds. Two-way communication between NStar and consumers will also allow the company to eventually ask customers to help reduce electricity consumption during peak-demand periods.”

Obviously, the application of smart grid technology is sustainable on several levels, so we can hope that it is adopted in MA and worldwide pronto. For faster progress, call or email your local legislator to encourage this positive corporate behavior.

We’ve all been hoping for that magic green solution to powering the increasing number of electronics imbedded in our communications hungry lifestyle. Freescale Semiconductor has an answer for us in the way of a new power conversion technology. Hoping to have the product released in mid 2009, one of the effects of the technology is that “a single solar cell attached to a mobile phone or other handheld device could charge the gadget” reported Todd Wooder for the Green Wombat.

The chip responds to some fundamental problems in solar technology:

1. The unwieldy size of the photovoltaics (PVs) required to power or recharge the battery of a component

2.  The significant drop in energy output of a PV array when some of the panels are shielded from the sun

Addressing the latter, given that the converter can be integrated into each solar cell, buildings depending on solar power can expect a significant increase in energy conversion even when some of the panels are shaded; more power created, requiring fewer panels. Cool! One of the companies interested in incorporating the technology into its panels is Suntech Power Holdings (STP)

As for our portable communications addiction, we may soon be able to live a guilt reduced life as we power those social media and IM wielding components with the renewable energy of solar power -without having to carry the power source in its own attache.