energy supply Archives - Michaels Energy

Mar 03

The Rant Goes Vlogging: Critical Conversations

By Jeff Ihnen Energy Rant No Comments

In this week's Energy Rant, we're spicing things up with a recording - rather than a blog post - of some hot topics in the energy industry. Tune in to listen to an off-the-cuff recording spurred by the tragedy in Texas. Be prepared to dive into critical conversations that we need to have to avoid these disasters - or worse - in the future.

Feb 24

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Years of Dominos Fall in Texas

By Jeff Ihnen Energy Rant No Comments

Last week when the Rant “went to press,” which is to say, when I wrote it Saturday, the arctic blast was merely a cold shot of weather like I have experienced dozens of times. I didn’t start seeing the chaos in the south until Monday. It was an avoidable tragedy caused by many things over many years. Some places lost water supply and wastewater treatment. A colleague sent me the first picture below from a friend in the Dallas area. Here in the Midwest, we might think that’s an innovative way to keep beer cold at a house party. In…

Jul 16

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Shared Economy and Distributed Capitalism? Pffff

By Jeff Ihnen Energy Rant No Comments

I spent last week at the Grid Evolution Summit presented by the Smart Electric Power Alliance (SEPA) in the Nation’s Capital. The opening speaker, Jeremy Rifkin, has authored 20-some books, the most recent of which is called, “The Zero Marginal Cost Society.” This post is based on a related article you can read yourself, here. The crux of the book, message, and article is that “investor-based capitalism, which focuses on resources for immediate returns, will inevitably be replaced by a more distributed and streamlined network-based capitalism, alongside a sharing economy governed by a high-tech global commons.” You have heard the…

Jan 15

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Blockchain Energy Authentication and the Cheaters’ Nightmare

By Jeff Ihnen Energy Rant No Comments

One sign of a good teacher is how many things stick with a student through life. As I thought through the Bitcoin maze, I thought of the following gems I collected from my personal finance instructor: Anything is worth what someone else is willing to pay for it (I add my own to this – everything is for sale if the price is right). You will never grow broke taking a profit. If the price isn’t zero, it can always go lower. The most likely price in the future is the current price. Those statements apply mostly to securities, and…

Feb 29

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Electricity Supply – Listen and Watch the Herd or Prepare for an Ugly Ending

By Jeff Ihnen Energy Rant One Comment

Ross Shafer delivered the keynote speech at AESP’s 2016 National Conference in Phoenix a few weeks ago. Mr. Shafer is a former late night talk-show host/comedian, game show host, author, and speaker. His message for AESP was excellent. He was engaging and funny, but most importantly, he presented sound, valuable advice for business; specifically customer satisfaction and experience. I cannot recall a single thing of substance he said that I disagree with. In fact, I passed along much of his advice to our team at Michaels via The Daily, our employee-only blog. One area of advice from Mr. Shafer was:…

Nov 07

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Occupying Ignorance

By Jeff Ihnen Energy Efficiency, Energy Rant, Government, Sustainability No Comments

Have you had your fill of Occupy Wall Street, (OWS) which has spilled over into dinky, surrounding, wannabe towns including one nearby with a population of a whopping 4,000? Apparently, these in-duh-viduals are protesting rich people and the fact that the rich keep getting richer and the poor, well, are the poor. My response: that’s life. Life isn’t fair. I don’t like the word “fair”. Rather, I like “not cheating”. “Fair” is too often used by whiners. Some of these OWSers are self described anarchists and communists. Oh yeah, there you go. That’s what we need is communism. There’s a…

Oct 10

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The Super Genius Grid

By Jeff Ihnen Energy Efficiency, Energy Rant, Government, Renewable Energy, Sustainability, Utility Stuff 3 Comments

The barrier to having a decent energy policy is very similar to the barriers of solving illegal immigration. Both the left and the right have their own vested interests in not fixing the problem. I see the political spectrum as a circle, not a line from far left to far right. It is a circle because when views get so extreme, they are supported by both the far left (e.g. Dennis Kucinich) and far right (e.g. Ron Paul). Personally, I respect both of these guys and I have no doubt they are sincere in their beliefs and want the best…

Jan 26

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Green Will Follow, Then Lead

By Jeff Ihnen Energy Efficiency, Energy Rant, LEED, Sustainability No Comments

Some of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA or “stimulus”) targets energy efficiency and green jobs training. Wisconsin just announced $2 million in green jobs training. Oregon: $6 million. First off, I’m skeptical of these curricula. Who will be teaching? What is the curriculum? At a cost of about $6,000 per graduate, it’s close to one year of in-state tuition and fees at a public university. Wow. Who is going to attend these courses? I would say a significant portion would be laid off construction workers and skilled trades workers. Once they are trained to weatherize homes, which does…

The Rant Goes Vlogging: Critical Conversations

Years of Dominos Fall in Texas

Shared Economy and Distributed Capitalism? Pffff

Blockchain Energy Authentication and the Cheaters’ Nightmare

Electricity Supply – Listen and Watch the Herd or Prepare for an Ugly Ending

Occupying Ignorance

The Super Genius Grid

Green Will Follow, Then Lead

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