U.S. Congressman Ed Markey and John Bergdoll meet during the FCC Broadband Field Hearing on Energy and the Environment at MIT. Topics included the role of broadband and advanced communications in the Smart
Grid, and the role of innovation in the energy information economy.

In his opening comments, U.S. Congressman Ed Markey stated, “Alexander Graham Bell and Thomas Edison would still recognize the grid that they created which goes to show how little things have changed.”

“Smart Grid and Broadband are first cousins: smart homes, cities, and cars.” He continued, “The Smart Grid is nothing more than an electricity Internet. We’re managing the energy. We need a capacity to
manage all this energy so it can be captured. Our grid has been working
too hard. We need a smart grid that is used in a way that works smarter,
not harder.”

“This is an incredible revolution and Massachusetts is at the heart of it,” he said. “We no longer see us as ‘The Bay State.’ We see ourselves as ‘The Brain State.’”

Markey indicated that we have the availability of technology to solve this problem of CO2 emissions. “Visionary leadership,” he said, “has been a wonderful national treasure.”

Technology, however, is not a simple clear-cut solution as Philip Giudice, Commissioner Massachusetts Department of Energy Resources, explained. The major concerns of the smart grid are cyber security and
privacy. He said, “We need to limit our vulnerability as we develop a
comprehensive national broadband Smart Grid. It’s an economy challenge
as much as an energy challenge.”

As tempting as it is to throw technology at the problem to fix the grid, Giudice wisely points out, “Computers and technology indicate that we are still in an era of rapid change. Specifying specific technology
may not be the way to go.”

The key lesson of cyber security is that you have to protect information at the source.

Additionally, Giudice acknowledged, “We are in an all new world in vulnerability with regards to the internet and security.”

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