by Jeff Ihnen | Sep 26, 2023 | Energy Rant
As a kid, I remember contemplating why we needed to learn math when we had pocket calculators. Lucky for me, the keyword is contemplating rather than complaining. Math was easy for me for longer than I can remember. My first memory was flash cards. My father, who...
by Jeff Ihnen | Sep 19, 2023 | Energy Rant
A few weeks ago, we had a little snafu. A promotional email said the energy transition is failing. That hit a nerve with one state government official. This week, I’ll present some facts, and you can decide. Cobalt First, we have the issue of diversity, equity, and...
by Michaels Energy | Sep 12, 2023 | The Big Why
Electrification can provide so many benefits, relating to efficiency, safety and comfort, and climate, that there is growing refrain to “electrify everything,” especially for buildings and transportation. I fully believe that electrification presents the best way to...
by Jeff Ihnen | Sep 11, 2023 | Energy Rant
Last week, I was fortunate to see this article posted on EnergyCentral.com: Demand Flexibility Is No Longer Nice To Have. “[Load flexibility] is increasingly becoming a “must have” as networks around the world are moving towards high levels of variable renewable...
by Jeff Ihnen | Sep 5, 2023 | Energy Rant
In the last two Rant posts, we explored dated benefit-cost tests for energy efficiency and demand response programs and introduced flaws with dated ratemaking schemes. Both constructs are based on a century-old “cost of service” business model for monopolistic...
by Jeff Ihnen | Aug 28, 2023 | Energy Rant
Last week, we looked at Total Resource Cost (TRC) tests that were developed decades ago to put a high value on avoided source energy costs. That was right for the time, but not today. I demonstrated that energy costs, mostly dominated by natural gas, are near historic...
by Jeff Ihnen | Aug 21, 2023 | Energy Rant
Last week Michaels Energy delivered a webinar, Achieving Grid Resiliency with Thermal Energy Storage. There are about 70 gigawatts of refrigeration load in the United States frozen storage and chilled-water HVAC systems alone. That 70 GW does not include distributors...
by Jeff Ihnen | Aug 14, 2023 | Energy Rant
The Energy Rant features content you will not find anywhere else, and this week we have blazing examples featuring two unpublished (go ahead and look) contributions to the grid crisis of Christmas weekend 2022 and winter storm Elliot. A few weeks ago, Utility Dive...
by Jeff Ihnen | Aug 7, 2023 | Energy Rant
One of my obsessions is understanding how people make choices and what they truly value. Regarding climate change mitigation and everything else, the quest for more dollars or dollar efficiency, i.e., bang for the buck, rules. Migration to Danger A recent article from...
by Jeff Ihnen | Aug 1, 2023 | Energy Rant
This week I’m focusing on the concerns expressed by members of the National Association of State Utility Consumer Advocates, NASUCA, which met in parallel with NARUC in Austin, TX, a week before last. The topics of concern include outage risk, high prices, and related...
