Unique Austin Neighborhood Doubles As Lab For Smart Grid Experiment
Texas might not be the first place that springs to mind when thinking about smart grid technology and sustainable development, but a ground-breaking, whole-neighborhood project in Austin demonstrates that community support goes a long way toward achieving both.
Headquartered at The University of Texas at Austin, Pecan Street Inc. is a research and development organization focused on developing and testing advanced technology, business model and customer behavior surrounding advanced energy management systems. Ultimately, the organization wants to have a hand in reinventing America’s electric system.
Their flagship effort is the Pecan Street Demonstration, a smart grid research project in Austin’s Mueller community.
Supported by a $10.4 million smart grid demonstration grant from the Department of Energy (and more than $14 million in matching funds from project partners), Pecan Street Inc. is leading a team of researchers from The University of Texas, National Renewable Energy Laboratory and Environmental Defense Fund to develop and test an integrated clean energy smart grid of tomorrow in the homes of today.
Through a partnership with Austin Energy, the nation’s largest seller of green energy and the first utility in the world to create a green building code, Pecan Street researchers will test systems in up to 1,000 residences and 75 businesses in and around the Mueller community over the next 5 years.
Technologies tested will include:
- distributed clean energy
- energy storage technologies
- smart grid water and smart grid irrigation systems
- smart appliances
- plug-in electric vehicles
- advanced meters and home energy management systems
- green building
- new electricity pricing models
Learn more about this project and meet the members of the Mueller community who are helping to reinvent the grid in the video below:
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About the Author
Beth Buczynski Beth believes many societal problems can be solved through sharing or other alternatives to the corporate system. I'm interested in exploring the growing collaborative consumption movement and how sharing is changing the way we work and play. See what I'm up to by following me on Twitter as @ecosphericblog.
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