Smart Grid Tech Shrinks Your Carbon Footprint
It’s no secret that global warming is happening. Last year was the hottest on record by a wide margin, and this year will almost certainly be even hotter. One of the most salient reasons why this occurs is the overabundance of heat-trapping carbon dioxide in the atmosphere. Human beings contribute to this situation by combusting fossil fuels to generate electricity for our homes and businesses.
Further complicating the matter is the fact that we don’t make the most efficient use of the electricity we receive from the utility company. Our appliances continue to consume electricity even if we’re not using them, and the electricity we receive but don’t use simply goes to waste. Most people aren’t even aware of how their energy usage is related to carbon emissions, let alone what the consequences are. There needs to be a way for us to reduce the amount of carbon dioxide that we as individuals are responsible for releasing into the atmosphere.
Fortunately, as technology has advanced, so has our ability to make the most efficient use of electricity through Smart Grid technology. The result is the reduction of our individual carbon dioxide output. Here are some of the ways that this works:
Home energy storage
It’s possible to store electricity you receive from the utility company in what is essentially a battery connected to your home. You can store the energy you aren’t using during off-peak times for when you really need it. You will soon be able to control how much electricity you direct to each individual outlet in your home depending on when you need it and for how long.
As a result, you make the optimal use of electricity to power your home without waste. You can also take the electricity that comes from green energy systems such as solar panels and direct it to your home energy storage as well, thus reducing your carbon footprint even more.
Feedback to utility companies
Smart Grid technology tracks the amount of electricity you use and how you use it, then provides feedback to utility companies. This helps them to understand how much electricity to send to your home. This way, they’re not wasting electricity from their end, and so they’re not burning as much fossil fuel for your sake, thus reducing your individual carbon footprint.
It’s everyone’s responsibility to do what we can to reduce the amount of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere and fight global warming. If we don’t, then we might leave a world to future generations that’s uninhabitable. Smart Grid technology addresses this problem by providing real solutions to reduce carbon emissions.