PSP Article in Galesburg Register Mail

http://www.galesburg.com/business/x946494075/Buying-electricity-hourly-can-cut-costs

The next time I see you it will be 2009! Happy new year!

The Smith House of Urbana, IL

As we saw during the past week, our furnaces are sometimes put to the test and we see it on our energy bills. It’s just like that old saying, “Furnaces, can’t live with ‘em, can’t live without ‘em.” What if that wasn’t entirely true? It seems improbable that you could live through a bitter Illinois winter without a furnace or electric space heater and maintain any level of comfort. However, a developing trend in Germany is to build residences without a furnace that meet the German Passive House Standard.

The Smith House (pictured above), located in Urbana, IL is an all electric house designed without the need of a furnace. Architect and owner, Katrin Klingenberg describes the house as a “simple shed-roofed house insulated on all six sides to at least R-56.” An R-value is an insulation rating. The higher the value, the better the seal. In Illinois, Energy Star suggests an R-value of 38.

In the 1970’s, many US homes were built with an ultra-tight seal, but they failed because of an increase in stagnant air and mold. The new Passive home uses a Heat Recovery System (HRV or ERV). The warm air going out passes side by side with clean, cold air coming in, exchanging heat with 90 percent efficiency.

Building costs are slightly higher (like 10%), but the construction design of the home is a traditional ballon frame. Prices in the United States will come down as more contractors and designers become accustomed to the Passive House building standards. Klingenberg believes that the premium would be covered in 10 years with lower energy costs. She says that in January 2007, “the electric bill totaled only $35 despite the fact that the month included two weeks of -10 degree cloudy weather.”

Via Greenline Blog

The Smart Home and In Home Displays

This past week a group of CNT Energy staff took a field trip to the Museum of Science and Industry on Chicago’s South Side to look at the Smart Home exhibit. In this highly energy efficient model house designed to spur the imagination about what the future of homes in the 21st century could be, we noticed that there were building monitoring display systems in almost every room. We are constantly keeping an eye on the emerging products in this sphere since they have the potential to be a breakthrough for helping people become more energy efficient.

Some Power Smart Pricing Participants have been members of our PriceLight in home display test program. The PriceLight brings information about the current price of electricity into the home. The next generation of in home displays brings in more information such as real-time electricity consumption information and the ability to control appliances. Studies have observed proven results showing that people with these devices in their homes have decreased energy consumption simply because they have a better grasp of their daily electricity usage. A recent article in The Christian Science Monitor provides some good examples of this trend in action. It goes on to mention the added influence of more advanced electric meters combined with real-time pricing.

Power Smart Pricing is a growing program that has reached national acclaim because of the shift in energy usage participants are making away from high priced hours. Your efforts have shown the energy efficiency industry that real-time pricing combined with emerging smart grid technology is an important part of the solution for lowering energy costs, improving reliability and cutting emissions.

Christian Science Monitor – December 18, 2008 edition
Power meters help homeowners track and cut their energy use

Top 6 Stories of the Year

The Power Smart Pricing Blog has been a tremendous amount of fun in 2008, and I hope that you have enjoyed it as well. As many readers have recently found their way to our site, I wanted to highlight some of the great articles that are now buried in our archives. This was originally going to be the top 5 articles, but in the spirit of the season I included a sixth. In no particular order (except publish date)....

1) New online tools to help you keep track of hourly prices
We hadn't yet worked out the kinks of long entry titles.... You can find the link for the google gadget as seen in the sidebar in the article along with a couple others.

2) Fighting Phantom Load
Here at the PSP Blog we aren't fighters, but if you must... fight phantom load.

3) The Fifth Fuel and Negawatts
In the most profound statement of the year: The cheapest kilowatt is the one you don't use.

4) Monticello School District Recognized as Top Energy Saver
Energy efficient schools have a near and dear place in my heart. Way to go!

5) GE's Smart Appliances
Here's to hoping our appliances don't get too smart. I like the pecking order as it is....

6) Green Gingerbread House
This one is fun for all ages.

No need to panic! The blog will be humming along for the rest of the year looking to top this list in the process.

In Other News…

Lighting of the future... made into a Christmas tree today!

GE has been conducting a lot of research and development into Organic Light Emitting Diodes (OLEDs). It seems that holiday cheer overtook the Global Research Center, and they wanted to show off their latest technology in a festive way.

OLEDs are highly energy efficient. In the lighting world that means they use less watts (electricity) to produce more lumens (light). The other part that designers are so excited about with OLEDs is that they are very thin and incredibly flexible. Be on the look out for this technology to make its way to cell phones in the next couple years. I mean they already made a Christmas tree!

Costs are still high, but GE is working hard and they are making advancements. As you can see in the picture, these lights can be made in one long roll. The production is similar to a newspaper press which was a breakthrough in lowering manufacturing costs. The prediction is that OLEDs will make a jump in usage by 2015 (that sounds a lot farther away then it actually is… wow).

In the meantime we can follow its progress dreaming up some interesting uses, or we can just watch GE make it into a Christmas tree.