by Jeff Ihnen | Dec 7, 2021 | Energy Rant
Last week as I began writing the second DRIPE post, I started down an electric-utility-pricing rabbit hole. I pulled back and saved it for this week – rabbit hole, botfly larvae, and all[1]. Now is a good time to play a card dealt to me a few weeks ago. An article in...
by Jeff Ihnen | Nov 30, 2021 | Energy Rant
Does more industrial [or commercial or residential] energy efficiency lower energy prices for all? That is a partial title of a paper published at the 2015 Summer Study on Energy Efficiency in Industry[1]and the source of last week’s sassy DRIPE post ( DRIPE = demand...
by Jessica Wagner | Nov 23, 2021 | The Big Why
Every now and then, we are asked to evaluate an energy efficiency project completed at a business that has since closed. This poses some tricky questions: how much savings should a program claim for these measures and how much savings will actually occur? As the...
by Jeff Ihnen | Nov 22, 2021 | Energy Rant
What do you envision from the word dripe? I think of boiling cowhides as feedstock for collagen peptides in the manufacture of gelatins used for deserts or your favorite mascara or lipstick. I was close on both counts. The word is tripe (not dripe), which is cow...
by Jeff Ihnen | Nov 16, 2021 | Energy Rant
I have a lot of gray hair. It’s a little frightening to see the age setting in when I see myself on video, but the years of wisdom from living life are nice because I’ve had the midlife crisis (20-some years ago), and I have learned to roll with things easily. Don’t...
by Jeff Ihnen | Nov 2, 2021 | Energy Rant
I’m not a casino gambler because I know who wins. I learned long ago that a stock is worth what the next guy will pay for it – nothing more and nothing less. Bad news is good news, and good news is bad. It’s entirely unpredictable. For example: Bureau of Labor...
by Jessica Wagner | Oct 27, 2021 | The Big Why
Last month’s post discussed the need for proper accounting of energy sources to accurately quantify carbon[1] emissions. With that as a background, we can now dive into the importance of the timing of energy use and savings. The carbon content of electricity is both...
by Jeff Ihnen | Oct 26, 2021 | Energy Rant
It has been a frothy year for the energy industry, and it will continue well into next year and beyond. How far? Heh heh. Let’s start with coal. After plummeting 30% in 2020, consumption bounced back, gaining 35% in 2021. Doing the math, that doesn’t quite get coal...
by Jeff Ihnen | Oct 19, 2021 | Energy Rant
We live in a world of instant gratification and making this quarter’s numbers, or at most, annual numbers, is the main goal – except, of course, for zero-carbon goals that no one knows how to solve. Too often, governors, mayors, legislatures, and companies throw goals...
by Jeff Ihnen | Oct 12, 2021 | Energy Rant
When I stick my neck out, it’s often nice to discover others are on board to slow down the machete. I stash potential topics in an electronic pile, and when something triggers a need, I’m ready to go. This time, a co-presenter triggered me as I was delivering an...
