Insights from our Editorial Team

The Climate and Energy Project has experimented with motivating locals in conservative, Bible-belt Salina, Kansas, by emphasing thrift, patriotism and spiritual conviction instead directly evangelizing on its mission to cut greenhouse gas emissions to halt global warming. That may be good use of rhetoric, but it raises questions about ethics, honesty and transparency. Our columnist explores the issue of telling people what they want to hear, regardless of why you're telling them something. 

Are there aggregate, societal benefits to smartening up our electricity grids? If so, can such benefits be properly identified and valued? An economist raises the questions and suggests that starting to track changes to "the grid" should begin now.

David Eggart, Energy Select program manager at Gulf Power Company, described a demand response program that involves price signals, smart thermostats and, in his words, the "mama test." Gulf Power shaved peak demand and filled valleys by offering an opt-in program with four rates and customers who participated rated it, and the utility, highly.

New developments such as utility smart grid investments, the advent of electric vehicles, more distributed generation, the aging of utility infrastructures, more demand response and higher capacity of intermittent generation on the grid means a major change in the way distribution operators manage the system.