12/13 Energy & Environment Links

Control the Climate at Your Desk, Save Energy

Ever wish you could micromanage the heating and cooling of your workplace down to the area around your desk? Turns out, not only would it make you more comfortable, but it would also save energy.

Millions of homes to get energy efficiency displays

Driven by consumer interest in energy and utility smart-grid programs, home energy information displays are poised to enter people's kitchens and living rooms in large numbers over the next few years, Pike Research forecast in a report on Thursday.

NYC Passes Landmark Greener Greater Buildings Plan!

Just last night, the New York City Council voted overwhelmingly to pass the Greener, Greater Buildings Plan – a package of bills aiming to reduce New York City’s carbon emissions by almost 5%, create more than 17,000 jobs, and save New Yorkers $700 million dollars a year in energy costs (via Campaign for New York’s Future).

Batteries to Become Important Part of the Grid

The electric grid is a complex machine that has been developed since its inception to become more and more reliable. One way utilities have been able to uphold this standard is by getting energy from power plants that churn out a consistent and predictable level of electricity. However, emerging renewable energy technologies do not. Sometimes the wind blows, sometimes the sun shines.

Utility sized battery storage is becoming an increasingly sought after piece to America's energy puzzle. Large scale grid storage would allow utilities to "smooth" energy fluctuations. The poles and wires of the grid can neither have too much electricity or too little. The batteries would allow an opportunity for grid operator to store excess energy or use the stored power to cover any spikes in demand.

The question going forward is not if, but how it is going to look. Two options have begun to emerge with pilot projects testing their respective feasibility. One option is to build a large scale battery (generally made from a lot of smaller batteries) like A123's 8 MW battery. The other is a distributed network of batteries that could cover a single neighborhood which would create a much more nimble and faster acting more customized problem averting system.

Utilities in Illinois purchase their electricity on a real-time market similar to what you'll see for Power Smart Pricing customers. Just like our program, one way to lower your costs for electricity is to take advantage of lower priced hours. Putting batteries onto the grid would create a cost saving opportunity to recharge a battery at night when prices are the lowest, then that stored energy could underbid any of the electric generation that is occurring during a demand peak.

To learn more A123's massive battery, click here.
To learn more about the distributed battery model click here.

In Home Display Review from Engadget

The writers over at Engadget spent some time with three energy consumption monitoring devices. They reviewed and compared Google's PowerMeter online gadget, the TED 5000, and the kit from AlertMe Energy. Overall, it's great to see advancement from start-up companies emerging across genres.

They came to some conclusions about everything from installation to the device's ultimate practicality. Check it out. It's an interesting perspective from people who know more about gadgets than they do about the smart grid.

The Engadget review can be found here.

12/5 Energy & Environment Links

Lockheed Expands Its Smart Grid Wings

Lockheed Martin, which has been expanding into smart grid and alternative energy for the past year, said today that it will work with a series of utilities – including PPL Electric Utilities, Rappahannock Electric Cooperative and Northern Virginia Electric Cooperative – on implementing security solutions for the grid.

Solar Plant in Space Gets Go-Ahead

California regulators on Thursday went where no regulators have gone before — approving a utility contract for the nation’s first space-based solar power plant.

SmartSynch Launches Universal Smart Grid Router

Is it “the Rosetta Stone of the smart grid?” Well, that’s a tall order, but smart grid network company SmartSynch says it’s launching a “universal” router for the smart grid, dubbed GridRouter, that can connect various networks, products and languages to help create an open ecosystem for the next-generation version of the digital power grid. The Internet Protocol-based GridRouter can act as a bridge between proprietary smart grid devices from companies, says SmartSynch.

How much is your home costing you?

So you get the bill at the end of the month, you look at, and it pretty much means nothing past "when and how much." The consumer centric information coming with smart grid advances is just that... coming. Even then it will require some more digging if you are truly interested to see just how the bill stacks up. An analogy that has often been made has compared electricity billing to going to the grocery store, picking out all your items, and then getting a total at the end of the month without knowing what each item cost you.

Well, consumer demand is changing rapidly. People are more and more interested in just how their money is getting spent. This demand is pushing appliance manufacturers, utilities, and the media to pay attention and innovate. A recent story in the Chicago Tribune by Cara Davis directly addresses this need. It's simple. It's to the point, and it really makes you wonder how this information has been so hidden for so long.

The article is titled "How much is your home costing you?" with the simplest of pictures featuring a kitchen with common appliances and their costs. It makes you think just long enough to look at your refrigerator a little differently the next time you open the door for 10 minutes figuring out what's for dinner.

Reduction in energy consumption will come from folks doing and spending the money they want on the things they want to do and buy with additional consumer demand and education on their lifetime costs. Looking at dryers, dishwashers, refrigerators and all things being equal, most people will buy the one that costs less to plug in. The speed of this change is a function of the demand which is all dependent on how much people know. Making these costs more transparent is the key to lowering the energy demand, but don't worry it won't spoil your Chinese food leftovers.


How much is your home costing you? (the print version contained the image above)