EPIC 2012?

Eerily Failliar

Actually thats Epic 2015

There is a new world wide web emerging right before our eyes.
  
It is a global energy network and, like the internet, it will change our culture, society and how we do business. More importantly, it will alter how we use, transform and exchange energy.
  
Enough solar energy falls on the surface of the earth every 40 minutes to meet 100 percent of the entire world's energy needs for a full year.
  
There is no energy supply problem, there is an energy distribution problem – and the emerging solution is a new world wide web of electricity.

For more information, see [terrawatts.com]

James Xuan

First thanks for mentioning those great videos (to watch here: http://epic.makingithappen.co.uk). I didn't know about them (they date from 2004, a time when I didn't even know Google was more than a search engine). The related Wikipedia article is really impressive: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/EPIC_2014

Robin Sloan's prospective is limited to information – EPIC means "Evolving Personalised Information Construct". The author hypothesize the convergence of all types of media within the Google platform. As far as I know, he doesn't consider non-media activity.

There's a reference to a "Google Grid", which is "a universal platform offering an unlimited amount of space and bandwidth that can be used to store anything. It allows users to manage their information two ways: store it privately or publish it to the entire grid" (BTW, I think we're not so far from this grid, with App Engine and all Google Apps!).

The title of this post, "Google Smart Grid", comes from the "smart power grid", which already exists (take a look at this Google Maphttp://maps.google.com/maps/ms?hl=en&ie=UTF8&oe=UTF8&msa=0&msid=115519311058367534348.0000011362ac6d7d21187; it lists many smart metering projects and is constantly updated) and is much more than a two-way information platform..

We could make an EPIC 2030 video, which would take into account non-media/search products: energy management, domotics, artificial intelligence, personal genetics...

This is a fascinating idea. I note particularly the statistic that enough solar energy falls on the surface of the earth every 40 minutes to meet 100 percent of the entire world's energy needs for a full year, but the problem is that we don't have efficient ways of capturing, converting and transmitting that energy.
I am focused on the race to harness nuclear fusion (the natural process for energy release on the mass scale).
While everyone's talking about making video's, here's a link to a short video about the newest fusion research project... an international attempt which is quietly racing ahead... and yet will still need years to crack the problem...
http://www.hiper-laser.org/hiper_dvd01.wmv
While the fusion race goes on (and its not a race between different science teams, its a race between mankind and the clock), let's do all we can to maximize our ability to benefit from renewables. Currently our efficiency in this field is lamentable... we couldn't even put a scratch on the surface of the world's energy problem!!!

Of course, if we were capturing the energy of the sun on the earth, we would be impacting the environment in some other unknown ways. We can't just take it out of the system and expect things to stay the same. :)

I think it will be interesting to see how an intelligent grid combats people plugging their car in at work or at someone else's home, driving home, and plugging it in and earning money. :)

Epic 2030 sounds good.

xuanjamesgmail.com

Lets talk about this for a little while

I've just found an interview of Dan Reicher by Fareed Zakaria for Newsweek, in which everything is explained (: http://www.newsweek.com/id/169165/output/print

<<For one, we need what are called smart meters. These are meters that record real-time information and can send it over the Internet to utilities, and then get it directly to consumers. You wouldn't expect to go into a grocery store and do your shopping and not know what the prices for anything were and only get a bill at the end of the month. We need to get to a point where people have a lot more sense about what we're paying for energy at any given point, and more choice about where it comes from and how green it is. >>

It's from November 24. How did I missed it ?!!! (sometimes, perhaps, Google search doesn't work well)

Wow, 6 days in the future and your complaining you couldn't find it. I thought Google fixed that future search algorithm.... :)

I don't know if it is just me. But your links for the Google services on this post are a bit out of sync..

Good post btw..

Google realizes megawatts are the next generation of content and they are trying to dominate the delivery of this information.
How?

http://theponderingprimate.blogspot.com/2008/11/oil-is-finite-but-information-is.html

Colin Colehour
I used Gmail Custom Time for some emails (http://mail.google.com/mail/help/customtime/index.html) and used the the e-flux capacitor to come back in time. In the process, I think I've found myself lost in the future :)

scott shaffer
Yesterday, E. Schmidt and Dan Reicher made a speech at the Natural Resources Defense Council – they summarize everything Google has done in the area.

Dan talks about "real-time information about your own energy use" @26:20. He adds:
<< and that something we're very interested here at Google, bringing this to people, and we've begun to experiment with it. And five days ago, I had a little unit installed in my home, and I now can go on my laptop and at any given moment, get real-time information about electricity I'm using (...) my household is using".>>

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LRJlO5gdsfk&ftm=22

I guess Dan used what "engineers at Google are hoping to unveil soon tools that could help consumers make better decisions about their energy use" (source: NYT | http://www.nytimes.com/2008/10/28/technology/internet/28google.htm). "Soon"! I hope it will get a bigger media coverage than the Gmail Themes announcement...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b1nz60J39eM#t=0m35s
Obama' new economic plan will focus on:
* roads and bridges
* schools
* wind farms, solar panels, fuel efficient cars, and the alternative technologies that can free us from the dependency on foreign oil and keep our economy competitive in the years ahead.

He seems to insist a lot on energy issues (the last point sounds bigger than the traditional roads & schools one). Google's Clean Energy 2030 proposal forecasts 750.000 new jobs creation by 2011 – which doesn't take the vehicles sector into account. B. Obama promise (2.5m by 2011) seems more ambitious.

But there's still no reference to the smart grid in the President Elect program:
http://www.change.gov/agenda/energy_and_environment_agenda/

During my Stay in Cape Town I saw an interesting concept: Prepaid Power:

The owner of our residence paid each month a certain amount for the power and when we consumed all the prepaid electricity we had to go to a supermarket and buy new one, like a prepaid calling card.

Maybe with a adaption of this concept it would be possible to use less energy: Each household gets some KWh's per month for free and if they wanth to use more they have to pay "market prices" for the over consumption.

Very interesting Jerome how you draw a parallel between Google's primary activities and the smart Grid.
Thanks for that captivating post.

Nothing very new, but interesting things in this video (Schmidt at the Commonwealth Forum, Oct. 2008):
http://fora.tv/2008/10/01/Eric_Schmidt_Where_Would_Google_Drill
From 51:30 (tools), 53:20 (energy as core business) to 54:58.