Senate Energy Bill Love or Hate

The National Journal recently put out a question asking how folks liked the recently approved Senate Energy bill (details here). Good responses from energy company execs and other senior leaders came back, but I particularly liked the balance and focus on realism in the one submitted by Econ professor Paul Sullivan of NDU:

In many ways the bill is a set of first steps toward something much better, or at least one would hope. It does read like it was written by powerful people who see the problems of climate change and energy security not as nearer term crises, but as slow roll issues that are looming somewhere in a future horizon. It also shows some of the difficult tradeoffs between energy security and environmental security being handled in tough-minded political ways.

Challenge: Name a Company NOT Diving into Smart Grid Market

Ladies and Gentlemen, please welcome AT&T to the party. InformationWeek has the announcement here.

Danahy: New Metaphors Needed for Cyber Threats

A new post is just in from colleague Jack Danahy re: the ill fit of the timeworn "Cyber Pearl Harbor" call to security arms. The Pearl Harbor analogy, like similar recollections of Cold War diplomacy, recalls a simpler time when you knew who the enemy was and what his capabilities were. Alas, 21st century threats, including cyber threats to internet, communicaitons and now, energy networks, have proven resistant to similarly neat classification:

If an attack comes, we will not find ourselves face to face with an attacker ready to do battle, but with a dark and gauzy space where we can only strike at shadows and hope by luck to hit something. Protection against these threats will come only with awareness and responsibility, and a sense among all of us, that we are responsible for our own protection.

You can read the whole post here.

Microsoft Joins the Smart Grid Fray

Only question I can think of is: what took them so long? As with Bing, the Redmond company's long awaited response to Google's dominant search platform, it seems Microsoft is late to the party. Still, it's not clear that Google's early mover status in the nascent Smart Grid market buys it all that much.

Here's Microsoft's smart grid approach described by PCWorld. I wonder how the "blue screen of death" translates in the energy world? Or if we'll be ctl-alt-deleting our homes a few times per week?

Smart Grid Learning Institute Posts Dr. Massoud Amin's 23 June 09 Presentation

Here's a link to the Smart Grid Learning Institute, an org with which I was unaware until they hosted a great webinar from Smart Grid guru Massoud Amin.  You'll see a link to Massoud's 80 slide powerpoint front and center. Security is touched upon lightly, and you might have to speak with Dr. Amin in person if you want to get a better feel for his Smart Grid security knowledge learned at EPRI and elsewhere ... which is extensive.

Itron Pays for its own Smart Grid Security Tests

Here's smart meter maker Itron blazing a new trail others will soon be following, and perhaps in so doing, making a good name for itself as a proactive and responsible vendor:

Itron is paying for the security evaluation, but company officials have not said how much the tests will cost. "Our hope is we eventually will take the knowledge we gain by working with Itron and transition it out to third-party cyber-security firms," said Ethan Huffman, a spokesman at INL, which contracts with the U.S. Department of Energy.

Headline of the Future: ALERT! METERS IN FRESNO ARE UNDER THE CONTROL OF THE PIRATE BAY

Got your attention? Good. It's worth your while to read the rest of Katie Fehrenbacher's great current snapshot and short history of smart grid security. You'll find it here.