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Energy Efficiency

Dec 01
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Clean Power Plan and the Heat Rate Fairy

By Energy Efficiency, Energy Rant 2 Comments
As you must know, the EPA’s release of its Clean Power Plan on June 2nd of this year includes four “building blocks” to achieve a 30% reduction of carbon dioxide emissions by 2030, using a reference year of 2005.  Those building blocks are as follows: Improve the heat rate (efficiency) of coal-fired power plants by 6% “Re-dispatch” natural-gas generators to achieve a capacity factor of 70% Development and preservation of clean sources, including nuclear, hydro, and renewable sources Demand side energy efficiency Does the EPA have any engineers on staff?  Did any of them provide input and/or oversight for the…
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Nov 24
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Energy Storage; Something Old, Something Old

By Energy Efficiency, Energy Rant 2 Comments
Want a fast car?  How does a 1972 Datsun sedan sound?  These are related and not two back to back stupid questions.  This baby, the “White Zombie”, can burn from 0-60 in 1.8 seconds.  Per my calculations, this is about 1.5 Gs of acceleration; not quite aircraft carrier catapult (0-160 mph in the same ~2 seconds) acceleration but enough to thrash any “gasser” muscle car on the market.  The secret sauce?  Thirty-six humdrum 12 Volt batteries crammed in the back seat, plus two powerful electric motors, like those in a forklift.  This provides a good lesson and starting point to…
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Nov 17
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Retro-Commissioning v Commissioning; Similar Purposes, Vastly Different Approaches

By Energy Efficiency, Energy Rant One Comment
Last week, I was reviewing a scope of work for retro-commissioning, also cleverly known as RCx – and it moved me to pulling hair out by the fistful.  “That’s it”, I thought.  “I’m going to relieve my rage on next week’s Energy Rant.”First, there is the infamous flow/process chart for completing an RCx project.  As you may infer, I am not fond of the “Planning Phase”.  In fact, it seems this process was developed by a program implementer for the program implementer (to spend more time and thus make more money while achieving little more than wasting time). Retro-commissioning has…
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Nov 10
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Clean Power Plan & 111(d)

By Energy Efficiency, Energy Rant, Government One Comment
Last week I attended the Southeast Energy Efficiency Alliance (SEEA) conference in Atlanta.  With that, I have a confession to make: I rarely sit and listen to speakers or take notes either because there is nothing new, and there is rarely any sort of technical or programmatic breakthrough to learn from.  There are certainly differences in programs, but it comes down to blocking and tackling, so to speak – the basics – hard work, communication, persistence, trust, and so on.  A couple speakers pulled me away from my work.  One was a talk by Tim Echols, Commissioner from the Georgia…
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Nov 05
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graphic of a train

What’s Newer Than the iPhone? Crude Oil by Rail

By Energy Efficiency, Energy Rant No Comments
Paid any attention to news lately?  Need any ideas for a Halloween costume?  Whoops – too late for that.  A good costume would be the Ebola virus – the current obsessive, 24/7 news feeding fixation.  Other than Ebola, it is fair to say the region between Morocco and India is as chaotic as ever.  There are civil wars, religious sects at war, heinous videos, Iran plowing ahead with nuclear weapon development, and last, but not least, Vlady Putin, the KGB thug clearly wants to reassemble the Soviet Union.  If one were to board the DeLorean time machine (incidentally fueled by…
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Oct 27
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Renewable Energy Pricing- A Tomato Tale

By Energy Efficiency, Energy Rant 2 Comments
This year was a blowout for tomato production at the Ihnen household.  Enough tomatoes were planted such that if a tomato plague blighted the Ihnen ranch, wiping out 90% of the crop, there would still be plenty for onsite production. What to do?  We visited the People’s Food Coop in La Crosse where we buy nearly all our produce.  Cherry tomatoes are selling for $1.80 per pint, and locally grown tomatoes are going for $3.00 per pound.  This is great!  Clearly, our crop as shown, represents a nice down payment toward an advanced degree for our K-9s. We loaded all…
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Oct 20
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Tune-Up Program – What Is This, 1950?

By Energy Efficiency, Energy Rant No Comments
As a writer and talker, there are certain phrases and clichés I practically refuse to use.  These include: Boots on the ground At the end of the day Low hanging fruit Thrown under the bus Kick the can down the road Are there any psychiatrists, sociologists, social scientists, or psychologists in the audience to answer this question: why do people gravitate toward these phrases?  Is it how they roll off the tongue? Thrown under the bus.  Have you ever seen anyone thrown under the bus?  Even in a movie?  How would you throw somebody under the bus?  Is the bus…
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Oct 06
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Energy Efficiency Benefit/Cost Tests- And a Handful of Excedrin, Pretty Please

By Energy Efficiency, Energy Rant 10 Comments
Back in May I wrote that we need to explain the benefits of energy efficiency in simple terms – like our mothers would understand.  In that I explained that utilities serve a public benefit, like roads.  Since the dawn of energy efficiency, there have been cost effectiveness hurdles – that make little sense to this 20 year veteran, let alone my 80 year old mother.  Since this is not (thankfully) my normal area of expertise, it took me a couple hours to figure things out and I’m still not sure I have this all right.  That my friends speaks volumes,…
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Sep 29
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Electricity from Natural Gas – The Game Changer; I’ll Say!

By Energy Efficiency, Energy Rant No Comments
Last week, I mentioned that having a diversified fleet of power generating plants is a smart strategy for any utility; specifically, diversity by fuel source.  The recent natural gas bonanza cut loose with the perfection of hydraulic fracturing and mind-blowing drilling capability (vertical a few thousand feet, then horizontal a few thousand feet) has unleashed a fury of kneejerk policy and utility strategy changes. As is common with the Energy Rant, Jeff says, not so fast.  It isn’t that easy.  There are consequences and major challenges with racing down this road without thinking.First we have the federal government (the EPA)…
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All things energy. That’s our jam.

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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