In April 2011, John Farrell wrote: 
solar and other renewable energy developers must find the best places to plug in to the 
grid, e.g. where demand is high or infrastructure is stressed. The cost to connect 
distributed generation may also be lower in these areas. Unfortunately, data about a 
utility's grid system is rarely public. 
California utilities are changing the game. Southern California Edison (SCE) rolled out 
a map of its grid system, highlighting (in red) areas that "could potentially minimize 
your costs of interconnection to the SCE system." Since as much as a third of the cost of 
PV can be recaptured via its benefits to the electric grid when properly placed in the 
distribution system, having this information is crucial for solar developers. Public data 
also levels the playing field between independent power producers and the utilities,  
since the latter can use federal tax credits and their proprietary knowledge of the 
electric grid to build their own distributed renewable energy at the most attractive 
locations. 
Having public data on distribution grid hot spots can make renewable energy 
development more cost effective and more democratic. Tell your utility to publish its 
map. 
This, instead, is an excerpt of This Data isn't dull. It improves lives (March 2011, New York Times) 
that looks at public transportation and consumer safety: 
The USA Department of Transportation is considering a new rule requiring airlines to 
make all of their prices public and immediately available online. The postings would 
include both ticket prices and the fees for "extras" like baggage, movies, food and 
beverages. The data would then be accessible to travel Web sites, and thus to all 
shoppers. 
The airlines would retain the right to decide how and where to sell their products and 
services. But many of them are insisting that they should be able to decide where and 
how to display these extra fees. The issue is likely to grow in importance as airlines 
expand their lists of possible extras, from seats with more legroom to business-class 
meals served in coach. 
Electronic disclosure of all fees can make it much easier for consumers to figure out 
what a trip really costs, and thus make markets more efficient, without requiring new 
rules and regulations. 
Another initiative has been proposed by the Consumer Product Safety Commission. In 
2008, Congress overwhelmingly passed and President George W. Bush signed 
legislation mandating an online database of reported safety issues in products, at 
saferproducts.gov. The Web site ran for a few months in a "soft launch" and went into 
full operation on Friday. 
Thirteen years ago, two parents were told that their 18-month-old son had died in an 
accident in a model of crib in which other children had died, yet there was no easy way 
for any parent or child-care provider to know that. 
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Copyright  2011 LEM, Scuola Superiore Sant'Anna. This work is released under a Creative Commons attribution license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/)