What if consumers were empowered with real-time data on the cost and efficiency of their energy use? During times of peak demand — such as on a hot summer afternoon when homes and businesses crank up their air conditioning — utilities could let cost-conscious consumers know how much they’re spending on energy or ask environmentally… Keep reading →
Customer grid defection through self-generation and storage not good from societal point of view Utilities in the US and elsewhere facing rapid rise of solar PVs are more or less unanimous on two remedies to address the revenue erosion challenge facing them: First, reducing the incentives to self-generation and Second, increasing the fixed charges customers… Keep reading →
Projects in Seven States to Help Communities Become More Adaptive With Microgrids WASHINGTON – In support of President Obama’s Climate Action Plan and the Administration’s commitment to improve national power grid resiliency, today the Energy Department announced more than $8 million for microgrid projects to help cities and towns better prepare for extreme weather events… Keep reading →
Quick Take: I have yet to read any conclusive evidence that Sensus smart meters are actually to blame for any fires. Even so, the company continues to suffer PR damage from recent decisions by several utilities to uninstall Sensus meters because of fire concerns. These struggles underline the importance of perception. Here’s hoping the company’s… Keep reading →
Montana startup turns a chemistry’s weakness to the grid’s advantage For years, battery technology startups and researchers have been striving to create a rechargeable, grid-scale energy storage system using zinc, one of the world’s cheapest and most plentiful metals. Zinc-based batteries tend to break down after just hundreds of charge-discharge cycles, however — and coming up… Keep reading →
Quick Take: Sometimes I highlight articles not because of what is said, but rather who is saying it. The latter is my motivation for pointing you to an article called “To Prevent Long Power Outages, Communities Look to Microgrids” from Governing.com. I don’t know if you’ll learn anything new about microgrids from this article, other than details on some interesting… Keep reading →
Cloudy future For some time, computing, data processing and storage have been migrating to the “cloud.” Now, people are talking about the energy cloud, where distributed energy resources (DERs) making use of intelligent devices, storage and a smart grid connect all manner of distributed loads and resources to meet customers’ energy service needs. Future is… Keep reading →
Late last week, the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals affirmed an important Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) Order, giving the agency a big win and aiding in the promise of a cleaner, smarter, and more efficient power grid. By upholding FERC’s Order 1000, the court confirmed what many think is common sense: Because the power grid crosses state and… Keep reading →
Demand response – an energy saving tool that encourages customers to shift their electricity use to times of day when there is less demand on the power grid or when more renewable energy is abundant – has been at the core of my work this summer as an Environmental Defense Fund Climate Corps fellow. My host company, Jones Lang… Keep reading →
It would be logical to assume that we make decisions based on our needs, desires, and values regardless of how the choice is presented. For instance, we wouldn’t expect the choice to become an organ donor to depend on whether you must check a box to accept or decline donation. But we would be wrong:… Keep reading →
