Distributed Power Generation
Distributed Power Generation = an energy system (mainly) based on interconnected little and medium size power generators and/or renewable energy plants
(can also be understood as home production of solar energy)
Definition by Ezio Manzini at http://sustainable-everyday.net/manzini/?p=9
Description
Ezio Manzini:
"distributed power generation: This expression usually refers to an energy system (mainly) based on interconnected little and medium size power generators and/or renewable energy plants. Its implications is a radical change in the dominant idea of electrical system. But not only: there is the possibility of a new relationship between communities and their technological assets and, possibly, a more democratic way of managing the energy system.
Today, even if it is not yet the main stream strategy, the option of the distributed generation is largely recognized as a very promising one and its implementation has been enhanced in several different contexts, both in dense urban spaces and in the country side, in the North and in the south of the world. The distributed power option has been made possible thanks to the convergence of several factors as: the existence of highly effective little and medium size power generators and the possibility to base the new energy systems on an intelligent information network." (http://sustainable-everyday.net/manzini/?p=9)
New Rules website:
"In the early 20th century electricity generation and transmission technologies supported the idea that "big is better." As a result, regulatory rules encouraged the construction of centralized power plants and long distribution lines. In the 1990s the technological dynamic was reversed. Small power plants located closer to the customer were become increasingly competitive. This has occurred at the same time as most states, many cities, and the U.S. Congress are rewriting the rules that govern our electricity system. The challenge now is to write rules (i.e. codes, standards, regulations, statutes) that will encourage electricity customers to also become electricity producers." (http://www.newrules.org/electricity/producers.html)
More Information
When consumers become producers, at http://www.newrules.org/electricity/producers.html . This site monitors regulatory progress in the U.S.