The Grid of the Future: Cloud Computing
January 21, 2015
Grazed from NextGov. Author: Patrick Boynton.
For what must have been a frustrating moment in the Venn diagram of history, Americans could buy light bulbs but not the electricity to power them. As early as 1878, Americans could order bulbs from the Edison Electrical Company, but it wasn’t until 1882 when Thomas Edison built his Pearl Street Station in lower Manhattan they could actually toss their private generators at the curb and connect to a shared power grid.
With the innovation of a grid, the per-unit cost of electricity dropped from the combined effects of comparative advantage, pooling and economies of scale. If we were to peel away our cities’ concrete shells today, we would uncover the pipes and wires of four utility grids, including electricity but also natural gas, water and sewage…
We are now in the process of adding a fifth grid. Like the electrical grid in its time, a ubiquitous cloud will permit customers — including federal agencies — to take advantage of pooling, economies of scale and comparative advantage to realize cost savings…
Read more from the source @ http://www.nextgov.com/cloud-computing/2015/01/grid-future-cloud-computing/103275/