Your TV's White Space: Where Google and the Smart Grid Meet

(MoneyWatch)  Google (GOOG) has long been transfixed with TV white space, those slivers of unused spectrum that were abandoned when the nation switched from analog to digital TV broadcasts. Along with Microsoft (MSFT) and Motorola (MOT), Google has lobbied the FCC for years to turn the spectrum over to the public, arguing that it would be the perfect vehicle to bring speedy wireless broadband services into every U.S. home. In an odd twist to Google's original vision, the company has partnered with Spectrum Bridge and the Plumas-Sierra Rural Electric Cooperation and Telecommunications utility to deliver the smart grid wirelessly over TV white space in California's High Sierras.

The experiment is limited, as Earth2Tech notes, because Spectrum Bridge can't create a commercial smart grid network until the FCC makes its final ruling on white space, which is expected sometime in the third quarter of 2010. But it's still important because it offers a way to bring a smart grid network -- oh, and wireless Internet -- into homes and businesses that otherwise wouldn't have access to either.

Here's how the experiment will work: The utility uses white space to bring broadband connectivity to remote substations. In this case, picture a vast mountainous area with a few small towns and the Pacific Crest Trail, a national scenic trail the stretches from the Mexico-California border to Canada. The utility is able to remotely manage the local grid, including power flow, and uses Spectrum Bridge software to make sure the smart grid network doesn't interfere with licensed broadcasts.

The white space experiment also gives residents and businesses access to wireless Internet, which is where Google comes in. As part of the experiment, Google has deployed PowerMeter, its free home-energy monitoring software. Google brought in one of its partners, Energy Inc., to provide smart meter devices. Now, utility customers within this experiment, will be able to view their energy use in real-time from any computer once they login to their iGoogle page.

The experiment is small by any standard and is minuscule in Google's world. This partnership doesn't even fall under the confines of corporate Google. PowerMeter is part of Google.org, the company's philanthropic arm. But it does represent Google.org's continued push to expand both PowerMeter and its overall Renewable Energy > Coal mission. And bringing broadband access into more homes doesn't hurt Google's bottom line either, since the search engine giant generates most of its revenues from ads posted alongside search results.

Google PowerMeter logo from Google.org
Related:

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• Google's Biggest Clean Energy Investments, and Some Small Ones Too
• Google PowerMeter Goes Social: Share Your Personal Habits with Friends and Neighbors!