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supply and demand

Jan 22
Love63

Three One Eighties in Fifty Years

By Energy Rant No Comments
My top "strength," according to Gallup's CliftonStrengths survey, is context, which means knowing and understanding history to assess situations and inform and guide decisions. "Those with Context are the people in our lives who instinctively look to the past to understand the present." How does this affect my perspectives? Historical context serves as an impenetrable bullshit filter. I.e., we've been here before. I recognize this pattern, and I'm not joining the mob. See you later. We're Going to Starve If you're over 50, you were probably told that we would run out of food. Here are some zingers from the 1970s. "Population will…
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Dec 19
Love60

Load Flexibility vs Indeterminate Supply and Demand

By Energy Rant No Comments
Two weeks ago, I roasted the federal government’s solution to 24/7 renewable energy: buy renewable energy locally. That can work to some degree for locating new-build data centers, which are significant loads on the grid. Most other sectors and subsectors need access to ports, rail, supply chains, and people – i.e., cities and military bases. For the most part, they are not geographically positioned with local access to significant renewable energy generation and, therefore, need electron superhighways known as transmission lines to receive bulk power sources hundreds of miles away and in different time zones in many cases. Pole and…
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Dec 14
Love0
Smart Free Energy

Homely But Smart Free Energy

By Energy Rant No Comments
I introduced exergy to readers 4.5 years ago, had a refresher on it for industrial decarbonization earlier this year, and it is part of our decarbonization training course that is frontrunning AESP's annual conference in Nashville on February 7th. Decarb Course Contest Speaking of the pre-conference event, we're giving away a FREE pass to our decarbonization course to one lucky energy nerd. All you have to do for a chance to win is write a sassy 250-word explanation on WHY you want to attend. Get the details and enter to win here. We're announcing a winner on January 5th. Preserving…
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Sep 14
Love0
image of a group of buildings

Grid-Interactive Efficient Buildings Part 4: Utilities Ask, Why?

By Energy Rant No Comments
This is the fourth in a series of posts on grid-interactive efficient buildings (GEBs). Here is a summary of the series: August 23 – Why GEBs? What is it, and why do it? August 31 – GEBs are difficult to achieve, beyond efficiency that should be done regardless. September 7 – What will customers think of this madness? Let’s peek at where we’ve been and where we are going. This series is based on a list of challenges noted in DOE's National Roadmap for Grid-interactive Efficient Buildings: Consumer awareness (Covered 07SEP21) Complexity (Covered 31AUG21) Utility interests (Today) Regulatory models Policymaker…
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Mar 18
Love0

Texas Heat – An Energy Market

By Energy Rant No Comments
Texans may need Tabasco, not just for their favorite dish or condiment, but as a deterrent to chewing their fingernails as they ride the cliff of blackouts this summer. Numerous articles, including this most recent one I saw from the Fort Worth Star-Telegram, caution of rolling blackouts as capacity margins are less than 7.5%, which is about half the margin the Electric Reliability Council of Texas (ERCOT) would like to maintain. Supply and Demand I drew a cartoon showing supply and demand curves for differing scenarios below. Sales will increase slightly at lower prices. Electricity sales are very inelastic in…
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Dec 03
Love0

Dude- Cheap Cookies

By Energy Efficiency, Energy Rant No Comments
Taking a suggestion from an anonymous rant reader , I purchased and have been reading a book called Predictably Irrational.  Figuring out peoples’ decision-making process is my job – to win proposals, design programs that people want, and how to attract and keep the best workforce.  Process evaluation of EE programs contributes a great deal to this as well. Now, I ask you to find a calm state of mind, such as lying in bed on Saturday morning.  Relax.  Hang with me till I explain this.  For worse and better, engineers are more rational than non-engineers.  Why?  Because they like…
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Nov 09
Love0

Playing with Fire

By Energy Efficiency, Energy Rant, Stimulus, Tax Stuff 3 Comments
I was pretty much like every other 12 year old boy.  I liked fire, explosions, and crashes.  If you think I’m crazy, why are movies sometimes beginning to end filled with the same?  Enough said.  Growing up on the farm there were always plenty of things to burn.  One time I asked my dad if I could burn an old cattle feeder that we no longer used.  No problem. You never see these things anymore but they were wood structures, like a weekend cabin that could withstand an F4 tornado, except it was all wood, nails and fasteners – solid…
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We talk a lot about energy – from the serious to the satirical.

All things energy. That’s our jam.

We talk a lot about energy – from the serious to the satirical.

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