One of the exciting areas of green careers in green infrastructure these days involves green careers in the “smart grid”. Green careers in the smart grid are technically challenging and, therefore, both personally exciting and financially rewarding to those who are qualified.
What is the Smart Grid? It is a completely computer-system-controlled electrical supply chain management system, involving interconnected networks, which covers: consumption management, distribution, generation, storage, and transmission of electricity. It is designed to give all that is needed and demanded, but no more than that, by a site demanding electricity. It delivers this electricity in a just-in-time way with a ‘round the clock precision never known before. The motivations are to save money and to save drawing on the electrical grid.
Translation: the Smart Grid is designed to cut out the waste both ecologically and economically. People who acquire green careers in the smart grid development and implementation are there to trim the fat of consumer electricity use.
Our friends at "Dummies" online have provided us with a breakdown of all of the various and sundry green careers in the smart grid that are available. Here is the Dummies list:
• Systems: Smart grid standards leader, smart grid chief technology officer, smart grid partner director, smart grid solutions architect, smart grid director, smart grid electrical engineer, smart grid engineer, transmission systems engineer, project manager, smart grid solutions architect/engagement manager, transmission systems engineer, test engineer, renewable systems engineer, systems project manager, distribution systems engineer, smart grid systems project manager, critical infrastructure consultant
• Standards: Smart grid standards leader, smart grid systems interoperability validation manager, grid security director
• Software: Smart grid software engineer, smart grid manager infrastructure development, software infrastructure subsystem leader, lead software engineer, software infrastructure quality assurance leader, software infrastructure test engineer, senior software systems engineer, advanced metering engineer
• Marketing and Sales: Smart grid marketing, smart grid sales, director business development, strategic commercial manager
If you are someone who would be stimulated by and qualify for green careers in the smart grid development and implementation, you can see from this list, that there is great potential out there for you.
The current United States power grid system for electricity came to fruition in the immediate aftermath of WWII, by various and sundry utilities at various and sundry times. So...all we really have is some sort of patchwork, regional-based electricity generation system that lacks efficiency. Today, we are actively integrating new power generation technologies, like solar power, into our national system; even as utility companies have been having a hard time with handling brownouts and blackouts during peak electricity consumption.
The smart components of the newly emerging 21st century power grid will enable various and sundry parts of the power supply chain to communicate with each another. We will have clothes dryers and dishwashers accessing the Smart Grid to determine the least expensive time of day to operate. This all adds up to less taxation of the environment, and less money taken out of your bank account, to achieve the very same outcomes.
Green careers in the Smart Grid are made of exciting stuff!
