The United States Energy Gris is vulnerable to anyone that has weapons and knows how it works. If a terrorist attack took place on the US power Grid, according to the National Academy of Science, the attack would cause more damage then Hurricane Sandy caused. The result would be blackouts that last for months. The blackouts could cause fear in the nation, panic and also destabilize them.
“We are talking about some 170,000 miles of voltage transmission line miles fed by 2,100 high-voltage transformers delivering power to 125 million households.” Jen Alic explaining how much space it covers. These equipments are not protected by anyone. Security is expensive. The US Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) does not have enough funding to increase the security. The grid covers a huge territory and has important equipment that are old and not guarded properly.
Our saved up energy if very important to us and has to be taken care of properly.
For a long time, workers had to go and gather data themselves to keep the grid running efficiently. Technology has no doubt evolved. With the use of computers we have figured out how to bring utility electricity delivery systems that are called Smart Grids. Two-way communication technology and computer processing enable us to use our electricity networks to transfer electricity to people’s homes from power plants and wind farms. It uses wires, substations, transformers, switches and many other technological devices. Therefor; improving our energy efficiency.
The “grid” amounts to the networks that carry electricity from the plants where it is generated to consumers. The grid includes wires, substations, transformers, switches and much more.
“Much in the way that a “smart” phone these days means a phone with a computer in it, smart grid means “computerizing” the electric utility grid. It includes adding two-way digital communication technology to devices associated with the grid. Each device on the network can be given sensors to gather data (power meters, voltage sensors, fault detectors, etc.), plus two-way digital communication between the device in the field and the utility’s network operations center. A key feature of the smart grid is automation technology that lets the utility adjust and control each individual device or millions of devices from a central location.” (energy.gov)
This field is growing day by dad. The benefits of a smart grid are many. It will enhance our security and efficiency to collect data. We handle our solar and wind electricity better because of the smart grid. The world is getting smarter day by day.
Source> http://www.arabnews.com/protecting-fragile-us-energy-grid-0
Source>http://energy.gov/oe/technology-development/smart-grid
Source>http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Electrical_grid
Source> http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grid_energy_storage