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HVDC/Supergrid is clearly important in providing energy flexibility in Europe and I think there is a European political advantage in such energy interconnection. It will 'bind' European nations together in other ways too.

But at the same time, the real gains in energy efficiency will come from national Smart Grids, which will have a major impact on domestic energy use. I recall a chart you posted many months ago showing that domestic demand was by far the largest component of total electricity use. Yet domestic demand is the worst informed and the least 'regulated' (except by price).

As Migu pointed out to me - if 2 million families in Sweden in Finland simultaneously switch on their Plasma TVs to watch an ice-hockey game, it takes the entire output of one nuclear reactor.

There should be greater regulation of new house and apartment building, to control the energy efficiency of the house. As it is today, a developer has no regulated responsibility for the future energy costs of the houses they sell, and certainly no responsibility to inform buyers so that they can compare life cycle costs (if the concept of LCC is understood at all, domestically).

2 way communication between energy vendor systems and users is the essence of Smart Grids (as it is with Super Grids).

We have to forget the 'always-on, use as much as you can afford' attitude to electricity.

You can't be me, I'm taken

by Sven Triloqvist on Wed Apr 13th, 2011 at 09:12:25 AM EST

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