Right off the bat, Nick Sinai, Energy and Environment Director of the National Broadband Taskforce, declared the theme of yesterday afternoon’s FCC workshop to be innovation.  The workshop discussion, Smart Grid, Broadband and Climate Change, indeed followed his pronouncement.

Several companies and government leaders that are working to solve energy, environment and transportation challenges presented their proposed solutions for the best ways to move America into a more energy efficient 21^st century.  Eric Lightner spoke first on behalf of the Department of Energy’s SmartGrid Task Force about his plans for modernizing electricity delivery, followed by Dean Prochaska of NIST on achieving interoperability, and Mark Dudzinski from GE on the benefits of a Smart Grid, all of which could not be achieved with the power of the broadband network.

And what are some of the benefits of a SmartGrid?

• Demand and response optimization
• Delivery optimization
• Reduction in emissions
• More reliable service
• Better grid management
• Better incorporation of renewables

Broadband was the focus of the second half of the workshop, which included speakers Chris Walker of The Climate Group and Colin Buechler of LifeSize Communications, both of whom supported their assertions by teleconferencing in to participate, and thereby using broadband technology to reduce their carbon footprints.

The need for broadband access and adoption for the country to truly enjoy the benefits of the Smart Grid was unanimous among the panelists.  Broadband would enable consumers to better manage their electric bills, lower their costs, and enjoy other energy saving applications.

In fact, one speaker declared lack of broadband adoption to be a double whammy because that household is missing out on two revolutions — the benefits of broadband and the Smart Grid!

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To encourage public dialogue on the development of a national broadband strategy, the FCC launched a blog this week cleverly titled “BlogBand.” With contributors including FCC Chairman Julius Genachowski and Broadband Czar Blair Levin, the blog is already an active dialogue platform. The blog represents a great opportunity to follow the formal and informal thoughts of our government’s broadband leadership. It also presents the opportunity for those who are not able to participate in the FCC’s broadband workshops to still be involved in the discussions.

We at NextGenWeb look forward to participating in this innovative, online conversation. Most of the postings to date cover various aspects of the FCC workshops and emphasize the diverse participation among the many stakeholders in our broadband future. From network engineers to consumers to health care providers, teachers and others who use broadband to improve people’s lives, everyone is encouraged to submit their thoughts.

What will you tell our government about what the broadband future means to you?

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Today, the FCC hosted a panel of experts for the latest workshop in their broadband series, entitled “Building the Fact Base: The State of Broadband Adoption and Utilization.” Each of the following panelists gave a short presentation and then answered questions both from the FCC and the public.

•    Susannah Fox, Associate Director, Digital Strategy, Pew Internet & American Life Project

•    Peter L. Stenberg, Ph.D., Senior Economist, Economic Research Service, U.S. Department of Agriculture

•    Christopher Guttman-McCabe, Vice-President, Regulatory Affairs, CTIA-The Wireless Association

•    Link Hoewing, Vice President of Internet and Technology Policy, Verizon

•    Karen Archer Perry, Director of the Connected Communities Team, Knight Center of Digital Excellence

•    Kate Williams, Ph.D., Assistant Professor, University of Illinois at Urbana Champaign Graduate School of Library and Information Science

The workshop covered a wide range of topics from digital literacy to privacy to generational and demographic differences.  But the bottom line was clear: The primary obstacle to adoption is not access, but understanding value.

Pew Internet is considered one of the best sources of data on broadband adoption.  Susannah Fox shared key findings in her presentation including:

•Broadband adoption is up, especially for older Americans, lower income groups, and in rural areas.
•Broadband users value their increased access to health and medical information, civic life and economic opportunities.
•Non-users most often cite factors relating to relevance of the Internet to their lives as reasons for non-adoption.
•Price and availability are lesser issues when it comes to broadband adoption.

Link Hoewing of Verizon shared industry data in his presentation, demonstrating how time spent online has dramatically increased, across generations and technologies.

Overall, panelists agreed that digital literacy is critical to broadband adoption, and adoption is critical to society and democracy.  It is now up to policymakers and communities to develop innovative approaches to help more Americans cross the digital divide.

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Tomorrow the FCC continues its slate of hearings geared toward helping to develop a comprehensive national broadband strategy. Next up is a look at international lessons. We’ve devoted substantial attention here at NextGenWeb to the serious flaws in the OECD’s international broadband rankings. Bottom line: The “analysis” favors tiny nations like Belgium and does little to inform how a country of the vast geography of the U.S. can address the unique challenges we face in achieving universal connectivity.

As the FCC looks abroad for lessons learned in advancing U.S. broadband, we encourage policymakers to take a more expansive view of the current international state of play:

We’ll start with the Technology Policy Institute, where earlier this summer Vice President for Research and Senior Fellow Scott Wallsten discussed findings in his new paper on U.S. broadband. TPI’s analysis should not fall on deaf ears as the FCC looks into the state of U.S. broadband. According to Wallsten’s report, the U.S. is the global leader in broadband infrastructure investment and offers among the least expensive entry-level broadband plans in the world. Leading progress in capacity and reach? Check. Reducing barriers to access? Check. Where can we do better? Stimulating demand among those who still don’t see the benefits of broadband (another major theme here at NextGenWeb).

Also this summer the Phoenix Center released its Broadband Adoption Index (BAI), which measures broadband adoption by country-specific benchmarks. Again, taking into consideration the vast differences between the size and scope of the U.S. marketplace relative to Latvia and Estonia, the Phoenix Center model paints a much more accurate – and positive – picture of how the U.S. is performing relative to its international counterpoints.

As the FCC continues its search for all the ingredients of a national broadband strategy, we hope that they take a hard look at the OECD methodology and take into account the many competing analyses that paint quite a different picture both of where we are today—and most importantly—the velocity with which we are making progress to deliver ever better, faster and more sophisticated broadband to all Americans.
If we want a national broadband strategy that works, then our efforts must start with a clear-eyed understanding of where we stand right now, and what it will take to achieve our forward-looking goals. Stay connected to NextGenWeb for continuing coverage of the FCC hearings and ongoing efforts to craft a successful national broadband strategy.

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