by Jeff Ihnen | Oct 14, 2020 | Energy Rant
Way back in April, I had generated a list of non-energy benefits of the COVID. One was the lack of traffic. That made driving easier and running a little safer with less hassle. Second, my, uh, wellness trainer stopped making trips to Europe, so rather than being gone...
by Jeff Ihnen | Oct 7, 2020 | Energy Rant
Last week in Thermal Storage for Grid-Interactive Efficient Buildings (GEBs), I introduced the importance of phase changes from solid to liquid to vapor, and the reverse, to our modern world. Benefits include heating, cooling, and refrigeration for all types of uses,...
by Jeff Ihnen | Sep 30, 2020 | Energy Rant
Aside from efficiency being a core component of my thermos-fluids courses in engineering school, phase changes were also captivating to me. Phase changes from solid (ice) to liquid (water) to vapor (steam) have been used for hundreds of years, and more recently, the...
by Michaels Energy | Sep 29, 2020 | The Big Why
Welcome to the reboot of the Big Why of Evaluation. In these posts, I hope to explore new ideas and different perspectives in research and evaluation in the energy sector. We will tackle both large and small issues and learn together along the way. If you have any...
by Jeff Ihnen | Sep 23, 2020 | Energy Rant
The batteries are coming! Maybe. I recently participated in an EPA-sponsored webinar to explore the results of a couple of case studies of lithium-ion batteries used to shave and shape building electrical loads. The technology is more nascent or even embryonic than I...
by Jeff Ihnen | Sep 16, 2020 | Energy Rant
Distributed, independent, economical, efficient, reliable, resilient, flexible, adaptable, technical, clean, redundant, modern, profitable, renewable ready, and doh, smart! What is this? A microgrid? No, it’s Michaels Energy. We’re back[1]. The Rant is back, and we’re...
by Shelly Dolbeer | Sep 10, 2020 | Videos & Webinars
This webinar is a recording of a stakeholder engagement meeting hosted by the Minnesota Department of Commerce on September 9, 2020. The meeting is part of a series of stakeholder meetings focused on Electrification in Minnesota and include presentations from...
by Jeff Ihnen | Mar 10, 2020 | Energy Rant
I’m not in the electricity storage business, but I can recognize lousy ideas when I see them. Grid-scale battery storage is a bad idea. It will never be anything more than a frequency and voltage regulation technology, although I have to say these are critical...
by Jeff Ihnen | Mar 2, 2020 | Energy Rant
I’ve been doing a lot of program impact evaluation for the last few months. That comes with pluses and minuses. One of the minuses is that I needed to suspend writing this blog for a while. Pluses include problem-solving, working with staff throughout our...
by Jeff Ihnen | Feb 24, 2020 | Energy Rant
A few weeks ago, I observed a webinar [1]sponsored by the Advanced Energy Economy to help me triangulate what the next great trend(s) might be. That meshed well with the electric vehicles (EV) post of last week and this week. The webinar featured two electrification...
