[1st-mile-nm] Glasgow, KY: The Fiber & Energy Equation

[Richard Lowenberg]

Here's a slightly abridged version of the latest blog posting by Billy Ray, CEO
of Glasgow Electric, in Kentucky, an early community broadband provider.  
Billy makes a cursory argument for the energy cost-savings provided by fiber to
all.
There are parallels between his concerns about the Tennessee Valley Authority,
with our current concerns and considerations about PNM, the national labs and
our energy future in a broadband networked society.
rl
-------

http://glasgowredbluegreen.blogspot.com/2008/03/elegant-solution-ignored.html

Tuesday, March 25, 2008
By Billy Ray
CEO, Glasgow, KY Electric Plant Board.

An Elegant Solution, Ignored

(snip)

As an engineer, it is impossible for me to look upon heavens full of problems
without proposing a solution that might, at least, extinguish the glow of a
large number of those troubles. Twenty years ago we proposed a grand solution
to many of Glasgow?s problems when we started construction of the first
municipally owned broadband network in the U.S. That solution has worked well
for many of our problems in Glasgow, but now we dream of expanding upon what we
have learned here to further enhance our network in Glasgow while solving
problems for our state and our region.

Here is what we mean. Many of the problems in our present night sky are related
to energy. The cost of electric power, natural gas, gasoline, and diesel fuel
are spiraling upward and that is impacting everything in our lives. TVA is
increasing electric power rates and promising more of the same in the future as
they struggle to build new generating plants to meet the growing demand for
electric power. The numbers are staggering. They are about 2,000 megawatts
short of the capacity they need right now to meet their demand ( a megawatt is
equal to 1,000 kilowatts and the average home in Glasgow requires about 10
kilowatts of capacity, so, a megawatt would serve about 100 Glasgow homes).
They are looking to nuclear power for the new generation units since the
outlook for additional coal-fired generation is murky, at best. They project
the cost of building new nuclear units at somewhere between $2,000 and $4,000
per kilowatt. So, by their own figures, the project expenditures of more than
$18 billion over the next ten years to add the capacity they need.

At a recent meeting of TVA officials and the distributors of TVA power, these
figures were discussed along with some preliminary plans for actually reducing
our demand for electric power, I had an opportunity to compare what we know
about building advanced broadband networks to the amount of money TVA is
looking to spend over the next ten years on concrete, steel, and nuclear
reactor vessels. The comparison ignited a blinding flash of inspiration in
which I saw a single thread connecting many of our problems. That thread is a
fiber optic cable and here is how I think it could solve our problems.

We are doing a test project in Glasgow wherein a portion of our old coaxial
cable-based broadband plant is being converted to the latest fiber-to-the-home
(FTTH) configuration. In a FTTH network, all the cable television, telephone,
internet, and electric metering information coming to and from your home is
carried via light waves. This means that the capacity and speed of the data
traveling to and from the home is virtually unlimited. We think this is the
be-all and end-all network configuration that will serve the homes connected to
it for twenty, or more, years without fear of obsolescence. Further, our
experience shows that this advanced network can be accomplished for about
$2,000 per home connected. Keep that number in your head.

Now let?s return to TVA?s forecast of $2,000 to $4,000 per kilowatt for new
nuclear generation capacity. In fact, to be abundantly conservative, let?s
assume (and this is a very far reaching assumption for any TVA project) that
they can build new capacity for $2,000 per kilowatt. That would mean that they
are willing to pay the same thing per kilowatt of new capacity as we know it
would cost to establish FTTH broadband to a home. If they are looking at
spending $18 billion that same money would get FTTH to nine million homes.
Curiously, that is about the total number of customers TVA serves over the
seven state region. Stay with me on this.

If TVA had an unlimited capacity data connection to every home, they could use
that connection to control thermostats on heating, air conditioning, water
heating, freezers, refrigerators, washing machines, clothes dryers,
dishwashers, etc. That sort of control would easily allow them to shave one,
probably two, likely even three to four kilowatts of demand off of their peak
demand. So, spending that money on broadband networks for every home and
business in the Tennessee Valley region would likely double or triple the
capacity improvement they are looking to get through building new nuclear
plants! So, if they built FTTH instead of more reactor vessels, they would be
increasing their net capacity by actually reducing demand during peak times.
Since this same amount of money would double or triple the net capacity impact
that they anticipate by simply building more units, they could actually shut
down a filthy coal unit or two instead! There is no more earth friendly way to
add capacity to an electric system than by acting to reduce demand. No new fuel
is needed for this solution. No new operating costs are added. No future nuclear
fuel disposal costs are added. This is the most ?green? energy that exists.
At the same time, everyone would get an advanced broadband connection with
infinite capacity and speed for free! In addition, widespread use of broadband
could have meaningful impact on the use of other fuels. More shopping on-line,
more telecommuting, more movement of the message instead of the messenger would
reduce other forms of energy consumption and all of these reductions would bring
immediate benefits to the region.

What would our region look like with nine million homes connected to a robust
FTTH network? Well, for starters employment would skyrocket. Folks would be
needed in all sorts of manufacturing plants to make the cables, electronics,
hardware, and software to provide all of the plant necessary to accomplish this
undertaking. Scores of folks would go to work building the networks. Hundreds of
cities and towns in our region connected with FTTH would also bring all sorts of
new businesses. Major internet retailers would want to locate servers in our
region to tap the wealth of bandwidth. With those businesses would come
software and hardware engineers and the corresponding increased demand for an
educated workforce. True, the construction of new nuclear plants would employ a
lot of folks as well. But the FTTH solution would spread that employment across
hundreds of cities and towns instead of one or two sites. In fact, the FTTH
solution would more closely mimic the model of TVA itself as TVA would, once
again, be extending the latest technology to every home and business throughout
the multi-state region.   TVA would be back in the business of democratizing
technology ? making it cheap and available to all.

(snip)

-- 
Richard Lowenberg
1st-Mile Institute
P.O. Box 8001, Santa Fe, NM 87504
505-989-9110;   505-603-5200 cell
rl at 1st-mile.com  www.1st-mile.com


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