Commercial Estates

The vampire power menace that is, for it is estimated to cost America and the rest of the world billions of dollars in wasted electricity that is equivalent to billions of tons of CO2 that is released into the atmosphere from power plants. Technologies such as the so-called smart-grid, intelligent power generation and distribution systems are in the works which will adapt production based on consumption. Smart power technology is filtering down to the consumer as with smart power strips that have sensors allowing it to sense users, turning off the power when not needed, say a lamp or some power guzzler such as the fan or AC unit.
MIT and other leading research institutes are developing smart-lighting controllers that would turn on the lights only where they are needed, switching from area to area as the user moves from place to place. This allows a whole room to give only the needed light where it is needed instead of turning a whole bank of lights. LED lighting fixtures that exceeds the light output of conventional CFL bulbs consume less electricity that solar power can easily provide. The Achilles heel of solar power is the fact that they still use lead-acid batteries for power storage which is in itself polluting. New generation polymer batteries allows more bang for each buck of power sent to it making these systems more efficient and thus saving power for the cities of the future.