Infrastructure - yawnnnnnnnn....boring, but vital

From the Energy Information Administration...

FACT In the U.S., we get over half of our electricity from coal-fired plants. Source: EIA Energy Kids Page

FACT In the U.S., our greenhouse gas emissions come mostly from energy use (82%). Source: EIA

In the U.S., our greenhouse gas emissions come mostly from energy use. These are driven largely by economic growth, fuel used for electricity generation, and weather patterns affecting heating and cooling needs. Energy-related carbon dioxide emissions, resulting from petroleum and natural gas, represent 82 percent of total U.S. human-made greenhouse gas emissions.

Setting aside the contentious issue of climate change for a moment, let's just contemplate the wondrous miracle that is our modern lifestyle! I'm not scolding here, I'm serious - it's truly amazing. But it's also something we forget, or prefer not to think about, or that many just take little time to contemplate, but we also know in the back of our minds that a party like this doesn't go on forever - it takes lots of energy to have all these little events that make our modern lifestyle happen and it takes an efficient infrastructure to bring us not only our gasoline, natural gas and electricity, but also our water, our wastewater services, our food, our telecommunications, our media.

Few recognize the vital role of infrastructure in making this modern lifestyle happen. For what it's worth, those in the infrastructure business are starting to understand better the efficiencies that are possible from leveraging better telecommunication infrastructure.

BPL Goes Green describes how energy utilities are starting to examine the potential of using communication infrastructure to begin to impact the consumption patterns of electricity consumers (their favorite is Broadband over Power Lines - BPL - but Wi F Mesh and other wireless are also under consideration). Because it is the peak periods when electricity is produced with inefficient fuels or old power plants that are the first targets of reform. If utilities can get consumers to stop consuming during the peak periods, then they can run much more efficient operations.

And it's not just fossil fuel in power plants that's at issue. We should be looking at all varieties of conservation and peak load shifting to lower the amount of coal burned to make electricity. I think that goes without saying. We should be looking at issues like line loss, which happens when less electricity emerges from the end of the transmission line than went in at the beginning. An argument can be made that the tolerance levels are set too high.

But moving beyond the electric industry and this conversation on conservation (couldn't resist), there's also fossil fuel at the gas pump. Hybrids get better gas mileage, but isn't that just the beginning of the equation? With the help of a broadband network, so much more is possible. Consider:

1. More effective traffic flow through automation of the traffic light infrastructure and effective use of video cameras, as described in the Gainesville Sun Wireless Net from traffic lights? to reroute traffic away from traffic jams.
2. Telecommuting that either
a) reduces the total amount of automobile miles driven by eliminating all telecommuting for some workers; or
b) eliminates automobile miles driven by trimming some days off others' schedules; or
c) time shifting other workers' drives to and back from work to avoid commuting during the congested hours (no reduction in miles driven, but a reduction in total hours driven).

Whether the benefit is 1 or 2a, b, or c, each option has the added benefit of lowering total time on the road for all drivers, not just those doing the telecommuting, because the infrastructure of highways and city streets works more effectively when traffic flows smoothly and jams are avoided.

Clearly, we have a long way to go in addressing these issues, but opening up the discussion by adding in broadband infrastructure, whether through fiber or through wireless, changes the capabilities of the city in dealing with these problems, and opens up the opportunity of making all infrastructure operate more effectively and eliminating wasteful behaviors. Why in this day and age we are even contemplating wasteful behavior is beyond me. Surely, it is time to change the equation, adjust the argument, and add broadband into the equation. If only to delay the other conversation, which is radical restructuring of our lives to dramatically trim the use of limited fossil fuels. Some day, we'll need to have that conversation, but not yet. Why not focus first on all the potential process changes that will lead to more effective use of what we have and eliminate waste. Only when we've dramatically altered our behaviors will we have a better idea of the severity of our situation.