Smart Grid Requires Smart Leadership

To create a real smart grid needs more than just smarts; it needs leadership.

In a letter to The Wall Street Journal, Accenture U.K. and Ireland managing director David Thomlinson writes: There is plenty of competition for clean technologies, but no country has yet established a leadership position in the evolution of smart grids.

With smart metering, Thomlinson notes, reducing demand for electricity becomes easier to accomplish.

The demand side has been an unfashionable part of energy policy for 30 years. Now we see smart meters being implemented to help consumers manage their consumption. But it is only through the transformation of our electricity networks into so-called smart grids that we can significantly reduce carbon emissions of buildings and vehicles.

The intelligence behind all of this will come from those with IT skills to create the needed systems and networks. In the U.S., with his energy and environmental nominees, there’s hope that President-elect Obama (above left with environmental advisor Carol Browner) will provide that leadership.