A few weeks ago, we reviewed electricity storage technologies, barriers, and issues. One storage technology is the lowly lead-acid battery, which forms the backbone of uninterruptible power supplies for data centers. They are inexpensive with readily available materials, are 100% recyclable, and therefore, they get no attention. Why? Elon Musk, the ultimate hype provocateur. WhatRead more
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Our theme the last few weeks has covered technological change, consumer emotions, and irrational ways of thinking. The regulated monopoly and its cost-of-service model will not last forever. Someday it will be replaced. What might that look like? Right after last week’s post, From Crazy to Rational went up, I read Why Electric Utilities ShouldRead more
The AESP 2017 National Conference is in the rear view mirror. While I was, unfortunately, not able to attend many sessions, most of that time was spent talking with a lot of people. I absorbed a lot of information and hopefully some wisdom. This post discusses the increasingly complex and intertwined electric grid. Shifting RoleRead more
Every kilogram of marijuana produced has a carbon bigfoot print of 4.3 metric tonnes (4.7 tons) of CO2. Marijuana production (U.S) consumes the annual electricity production of 1.7 million homes. Marijuana production consumes 1% of the nation’s electricity, and it’s growing rapidly. Data centers consume 3% of electricity worldwide. Mother Jones reports a growth moduleRead more
As I watched one of the bowl games on New Year’s Day (darned if I can remember which one), the team behind had possession of the ball around mid-field with maybe a minute to go on the clock to score a touchdown and win, or not and lose (behind by four points). Armchair QB advice:Read more
Combined heat and power (CHP) is quite easy to understand from an energy efficiency perspective. Deploying policies to encourage it is very complex due to a number of things: What fuel type are we saving? What is fair for the utility? What are the public benefits? How should any incentives be derived? CHP Overview InRead more
The utility business is fascinating and bizarre to me, and this can only mean I’m a hapless, pathetically boring person. But that is what it may look like to the uninformed. It’s like soccer, baseball, or Indy car racing. If you don’t like these games/sports, you just don’t get it. First off, from business andRead more
When consumers are considering the purchase of an electric vehicle, what are they thinking? Good question. I would be thinking, how can I fully utilize it and what are the limitations? The limitation nearly anyone would consider include the limited driving range. What can I do with the 70 mile or so cap between charges? Read more
Nothing lasts forever, or in some cases, even a couple years. The race to displace current products and services of any stripe is rather obvious, except there will never be a replacement for the McDonald’s hamburger, and running shoes haven’t improved in 20 years. In recent weeks, I have seen perhaps a half dozen articlesRead more
We were recently conversing with folks from AESP about topics of interest for newsletters, and one intrigued me: what will be the big thing in the industry in 2014? Answering that would be like predicting the S&P’s close on December 31st. Over the long term (decades) the market tracks the economy. Over the short termRead more
Our friends at the American Council for an Energy Efficient Economy (ACEEE) have published another source report worthy of a post on this blog. The title of this report is Frontiers of Energy Efficiency: Next Generation Programs Reach for High Energy Savings, which can be found here. The report is quite a detailed whomper, butRead more
As a sub-consultant or as a prime contractor we must do about 25 “major” proposals per year. By “major” I mean there is a formal request for proposals (RFP), sometimes there is an “intent to bid” form to submit, formal question submittals to the buyer, formal distribution of all questions and answers to all bidders,Read more
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