Energy Rant, a blog written weekly by our CEO Jeff Ihnen, was awarded the dotCOMM Gold award in 2024. DotCOMM is an international competition honoring excellence in web creativity and digital communication. The competition is unique in that it reflects the role of creatives in the dynamic web that is transforming how we market and communicate products and services. DotCOMM Awards’ categories are the elements of the web’s evolving tools. Interactivity, content, design, social media, video, apps, blogs and influencers are all important components of digital public relations, marketing and advertising campaigns. To learn more, visit dotCOMM Awards.
Read More
When I dig in to research a topic for the Rant, it’s a bit like American Pickers with Mike and Frank, but not drama. Pickers cover thousands of square feet of junk or treasure. I suppose the contents of this blog could be described as thousands of words of junk or treasure. This week we “pick” the last bits from the research that came from the paper, Climatic Impacts of Wind Power.This week we examine data representing the Midcontinent Independent System Operator’s (MISO) load and wind supply curves. First, the MISO territory is enormous, stretching from the Gulf of Mexico…
Read More
Don’t you hate it when the holidays come, and the A-Team of whatever it may be – radio show hosts, NPR, WPR, other talk radio and news stations - play their “best of” broadcasts? It is essentially retreads of irrelevant, untimely information. Of course we don’t do this at the Rant. Instead, this holiday week, I am going to add some recent reinforcement and other timely information in which you are sure to be interested. Guaranteed, or you may need to see a counselor. Customer Engagement, Take 2 A few weeks ago in Customer Engagement, Get with It or Get…
Read More
The big energy saving opportunities in a building are usually hidden from the unsuspecting field auditor. The obvious exception is lighting because it isn’t hidden! The hidden things are what go on behind closed doors in the dark. Yes, the salacious activity spawned by an out of control brain – the energy management system. Similarly, nuggets flow across my desk, computer screen, and directly from people that feed topics of this Energy Rant. A few weeks ago, I stumbled onto data confirming my years-old assertion that tight fitting ductwork does not save energy, relative to in situ status quo. Being…
Read More
Last week, I was reviewing a scope of work for retro-commissioning, also cleverly known as RCx – and it moved me to pulling hair out by the fistful. “That’s it”, I thought. “I’m going to relieve my rage on next week’s Energy Rant.”First, there is the infamous flow/process chart for completing an RCx project. As you may infer, I am not fond of the “Planning Phase”. In fact, it seems this process was developed by a program implementer for the program implementer (to spend more time and thus make more money while achieving little more than wasting time). Retro-commissioning has…
Read More
