by Jeff Ihnen | Oct 8, 2018 | Energy Rant
A recent webinar delivered some interesting facts to me. The average human brain weighs three pounds, as verified here. The presenter said the brain represents 2% of an average person’s weight but consumes 20% of the blood flow and calories. I thought, wow – that is...
by Jessica Wagner | Sep 21, 2018 | Videos & Webinars
Prepared for Energize St....
by Jeff Ihnen | Aug 13, 2018 | Energy Rant
A couple of weeks ago I was directed to an article in AESP’s[1] magazine discussing ways to improve efficiency program cost-effectiveness. Although it wasn’t about avoided-cost and benefit-cost tests, it provides good stuff for elaborating in this blog. “Cost...
by Jeff Ihnen | Jul 23, 2018 | Energy Rant
I have always found it interesting that “demand-side management,” the term that is generally used synonymously with energy efficiency programs, includes virtually no demand management whatsoever. The term “demand-side” simply means the energy consuming side of the...
by Jeff Ihnen | Jul 16, 2018 | Energy Rant
I spent last week at the Grid Evolution Summit[1] presented by the Smart Electric Power Alliance (SEPA) in the Nation’s Capital. The opening speaker, Jeremy Rifkin, has authored 20-some books, the most recent of which is called, “The Zero Marginal Cost Society.” This...
by Jeff Ihnen | Jul 2, 2018 | Energy Rant
Energy storage is easy and cheap. Grid-grade electricity storage is complex and expensive. Definitions of energy storage vary. Some consider hot water, chilled water, or ice to be stored energy. It’s really storing the benefits of energy consumption. For phenomenal...
by Michaels Energy | Jun 25, 2018 | Energy Rant
This week’s Energy Rant is courtesy of guest writer, Brian Uchtmann, Evaluation Engineer at Michaels Energy. Energy efficiency programs remind me of a joke about economists; here is my version for evaluators. Feel free to use this joke at your next party[1]. Two...
by Jeff Ihnen | Jun 4, 2018 | Energy Rant
As I get older, I’m more interested in old stuff, especially how our ancestors lived, the challenges they faced, and the technologies they used. As I mentioned last week, our ancestors needed to be more creative than we are today. They had to use their brains or work...
by Jeff Ihnen | May 21, 2018 | Energy Rant
Choose a political tribe, and I will tell you their concerns, doubts, fears, and enemies. Those threats I could categorize include climate change, tyrannical government, terrorism, big corporate, national debt, financial collapse, and so forth. Some of those threats...
by Liz Haworth | Apr 30, 2018 | Energy Rant
Sorry, it’s not Whitney Houston, or Jeff Ihnen, writing this week’s Rant. It’s Kristin Laursen filling in while Jeff puts his feet up, sips martinis, and listens to 90s love songs (at least two of the three of those are true). Last week in Jeff’s Rant, he told us that...
