Embbedded commerce heats up
I want to alert my readers that there are two activities afoot right now that have the potential to affect everyone interested in GridWise, particularly those interested in the new e-commerce side of energy.
- NIST has begun working in earnest on the protocols of the new smart grid, in particular the B2B interactions between the grid and its end nodes. Work is split into B2G, I2G, H2G, and T&D, with electric cars placed, for now, in H2G. It is important that they are opting for business to business interactions, and not on machine to machine interactions. Services inside the building would be coordinated by the business processes of the occupants. Grid messages would go to the business agent of the occupants. Interactions, including pricing and bidding, would be between the grid agents and the building agents. This group had its second meeting today, and is requesting submission of applications (use cases but with an economics/business slant) to base the roadmap around.
- OASIS, the e–commerce people, have a stated intent of aligning / cross-pollinating the e-commerce and the device crowds. Clearly, in WS-* (pronounced ws-splat), we have most of what we need to put secure, scalable, abstract, verifiable, transactions around the underlying business transactions of GridWise.
Those who know me, know I am excited about this convergence, which I have been writing about, at here and at other places, for years.
If you have application cases that you would like the business of energy to support, built upon transacted open markets, let me know and I will stir them into the hopper. If you want to be kept notified, let me know that as well.
Algal Biodiesel Virtuous Cycles
I am reading more and more about how close algal biodiesel is, perhaps a year or two away. I will reserve my judgment on ship dates, but note that there are claims that algae can produce oils suitable for making biodiesel out of without genetic engineering. I am not as concerned with genetic modifications as some are, but do acknowledge that the presence of such modifications would concern others and throw barriers up in the way of permitting.
Biodiesel algae seems to grow best in glass, where it can be exposed to maximum sunlight. It works best when micronutrients can be bubbled through it, although one plan seems to rely on osmosis through a filter from a waste stream.
But what I like best is that this algae (or any algae) seems to grow best when carbon dioxide is bubbled through it. Most of any oil is, of course, carbon and hydrogen, with a little oxygen perhaps thrown in. A good source of carbon is an essential fuel for plants. This is why plants in general, more popularly the rain forest, and more importantly, sea algae are such important consumers of CO2 and producers of oxygen.
Hmmmm – so biodiesel algae would work best with a ready source of carbon dioxide….
One of the fantasies I am enjoying most right now is algal scrubbing of CO2. I do not recall if I ran across this somewhere, or came up with it myself when tossing and turning on a late night. So here’s the deal.
Coal plants scrub their smoke stacks of any chemicals that may be harmful to algae. The result is then bubbled through a huge series of algae vats, which consume CO2 and release oxygen. The oil producing algae is harvested to produce biodiesel. The carbon in the biodiesel would, eventually, end up in the air, but not before another trip, through the nation’s cars and trucks.
Because of the scrubbing, coal becomes one of the cleanest ways to produce energy. The high costs of scrubbing are paid for by biodiesel production.
What’s your energy fantasy?
New Daedalus
Daedalus designed buildings, automated statues, and built wings for human flight. Daedalus worked by eye and hand, his designs scratched with a stylus on wax tablets. Until recently, we merely perfected his means of work, using better pens, and paper, and finally drawing on computers.
It is only recently that we have begun to leave the methods of Daedalus behind.
Simulations and digital twins guide each decision. Intelligence, or at least behaviors, imbue each system and device. Cyberphysical systems replace household servants and chauffeurs, operate factories, and manage energy logistics. The most pressing concerns are how intelligent systems and buildings will respond to us, and to each other.