In considering their planned economic stimulus package, President-elect Obama’s transition team pondered how beneficial the plan would be if information technology were highlighted. Instead of consulting government bureaucrats or even academic experts at leading universities the team went to IBM. ...

According to an article appearing in December in the Wall Street Journal, IBM chairman and CEO Sam Palmisano presented information directly to Carol Browner, coordinator of climate and energy policy for the incoming administration, and Julius Genachowski – a technology adviser to the president who is rumoured to be in the running for the newly created position of United States chief technology officer. In the presentation, Palmisano explained how a $30 billion information technology stimulus would create jobs.

As part of the technology stimulus, IBM recommended three areas of primary focus: increased broadband Internet access throughout the country, continued computerization of medical records, and rolling out the smart grid to revolutionise the country’s power distribution system. IBM worked with the Information Technology and Innovation Foundation think tank based in Washington D.C. to come up with the focus areas.

According to their study, IBM found that a $10 billion investment to boost America’s smart grid infrastructure would create 239,000 new jobs. IBM would stand to benefit considerably from any IT investment but would particularly within these focus areas. Big Blue figures prominently in the healthcare digitisation process as well as smart grid technology.

In his presentation to the Obama transition team, Palmisano said that small businesses would create more than half of the new jobs as a result of so-called “network effects.” For example, economic activity would naturally increase from a higher presence of broadband Internet. Rolling out the smart grid would bring a wealth of new energy technologies online.

Some countries have made major strides installing smart grids. Italy, for one, blanketed the country with the money and energy-saving devices several years ago. Power providers around the world are realising that their power infrastructure is at or past its useful age and that the time has come to make the technological leap. Typically, transformers in North American power substations are designed to last 40 years, but the average age of these devices is 42 years.

How much of the advice will be incorporated into the stimulus package that lawmakers and the Obama team are working on remains to be seen. At the end of December, Obama aides said that part of the two-year plan would include spending on traditional infrastructure, including highways, and reduced taxes.

Have you had trouble keeping track of smart metering projects? So have we, which is why we’re glad to see the Smart Metering Projects Map run by the Energy Retail Association in the UK.

The map essentially pinpoints smart metering projects across Europe, North America, Oceania and Asia on a zoom-able Google map. If you click on one of the flags, a few paragraphs pop up explaining the scope and purpose of the project. Distrigaz Sud, for instance, is installing 1.1 gas meters in southern Romania to offset gas network balancing concerns. The meters in the trial utilize snap-on Zigbee devices to permit communication.

In Kyrgyzstan, a utility will test out pre-paid gas meters. (Pre-paid gas meters used to be a common fixture in the U.K. after World War II and are going to be trialed in parts of the U.S. for lower-income housing developments.)

And my personal favorite, Bosnia Herzegovina’s Elektroprivreda HZ HB Mostar is installing meters that communicate through power-line networking provided by Echelon. Echelon has also landed deals, and installed, power line-enabled meters and street lights in Italy, Norway and Texas. Italy already has 30 million smart meters, according to the map, which makes the country one of the more popular nations for smart meters. Elektroprivreda will initially only put in 200 meters but wants to boost the number to 200,000.

There are no projects yet, according to the map, in South America or Africa, but there are proposals in the works for South Africa.

At the risk of sounding redundant, smart metering will be one of the major issues and market for greentech in 2009 and beyond. Proponents say that smart meters and demand response programs can substantially curb greenhouse gases and energy consumption by more finely controlling the distribution and consumption of electricity, water and natural gas. Electrical grids, water utilities and gas pipelines, however, weren’t designed with two-way communication and control in mind so bringing intelligence to these systems will require investments in networking, hardware and software.

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