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A recent article in
Forbes
online explains how Denmark has become 100% energy independent over the last 20 years. Among the many changes like conservation and tax policy, the author describes how 'smart metering' allows individuals to sell excess energy back to the power companies.
It turns out those whacky-socialist Danes relied on good-old-fashioned economic self-interest (i.e. greed) to get people to conserve energy.
The idea is simple: everybody gets a meter on their house that works in both directions. If you use energy you get billed for it. If you put energy back onto the grid you get paid for it.
Would it work here? You bet. If I had a smart meter on my house, I’d figure out every possible way to sell energy back to Consumers Power:
solar panels,
wind turbines,
or hamsters on treadmills hooked to little generators.
Next, give me a non-peak energy usage discount, and I’ll show you even more greed. I’ll wash my clothes at 3am when electricity is 10 cents a kilowatt-hour, and
sell back energy
from my solar panels when electricity is worth 15 cents.
Since I occasionally work from home, I could make money with a battery-operated car. I’ll charge it all night at the lower rate, then
discharge it back into the grid
during the day. A car that makes its own payment – I love it.
So here’s my suggestion for policy makers: instead of asking me to ‘cut back’ on energy, pay me to do it. Then step back and watch the marketplace do its thing. |
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