Broadband and a Clean-Energy Economy

Broadband will play a major role in realizing a sustainable environmental future. Broadband-based technologies will help build a smarter grid, smarter homes and buildings, and help empower consumers to make smarter and greener decisions with their energy consumption. A recent Department of Energy study found that the Smart Grid can reduce greenhouse gas emissions by as much as 12% by 2030, the equivalent of removing 65 million cars off of roads today. When consumers are empowered to interact with their own energy data, studies have found reductions in consumption as high as 15% -- annual savings opportunities in hundreds of dollars for households across America. Though it often feels like the technology and possibility of tomorrow, the FCC's Clean Technology summit showed that tomorrow is arriving right now. The private sector will unleash green-tech innovation upon the country if we achieve more ubiquitous broadband deployment and empower consumers with their energy-data.