26 April 2013 by Mark Anderson Magazine issue 2914. Subscribe and save Thousands of tiny computers that scavenge power from their surroundings could one day be used to monitor your world THOUGHT your smartphone or tablet packed a big punch for its size? Pah, that's nothing. The next generation of computers will be able…
As CEO of Gridware, a company recognized by Time Magazine as one of the best inventions of 2022, Tim Barat said he believes that the thing he’s most proud of is bringing his network of co-workers together.
Gridware is building early-detection sensors for power grid failures and wildfires
Like corporate financial accounting, the power grid never draws headlines when things are going well. No journalist writes “The power remains on,” or discusses the extensive work it takes to maintain the grid. Instead, it takes a record-breaking ice wave to knock out power to one of the largest states in America for it to start garnering front-page coverage, or perhaps massive wildfires in America’s most populous state like the Camp Fire in California in 2018.
Power grids are going to be in the news more and more in the coming years as global climate change intensifies storm activity and grids come under increasingly harsh strain. As my colleague Jon Shieber wrote yesterday, “Whether it’s heavily regulated markets like California or a free market like Texas, current policy can’t stop the weather from wreaking havoc and putting people’s lives at risk.” The grid is at the center of one