energy Archives - Page 4 of 10

Apr 14

Combined Heat and Power – a Serious Decarb Weapon

By Jeff Ihnen Energy Rant No Comments

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. What happened to the PowerWall, by the way? Disruption of rational thought? A web search of “annual Powerwall sales” results in nothing but distantly tangential content. Similarly, the utility industry, our industry, other companies, and people chase the flashy objects (squirrel!) to obtain decarbonization targets. Flash…

Apr 07

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Net Zero: An Unserious Weapon Against Decarbonization

By Jeff Ihnen Energy Rant No Comments

You all know people who are always going to do something great but never make it happen. Consider the hapless New Year’s resolution for which someone plans to lose weight. They successfully diet between a cheeseburger and fries for lunch and a mound of pasta with rich sauce for dinner: the “diet” lasted a few hours and accomplished nothing. The empty New Year’s resolution de jure for decarbonization is net zero, where similarly, there is excess at times and shortages at other times. Whether it’s net-zero-energy building design or net-zero-carbon electricity production, the achievement is easy and similarly not helpful.…

Apr 04

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Energy Storage with Doug Houseman

By Jeff Ihnen Energy Rant No Comments

In this week's Energy Rant, Jeff Ihnen (CEO at Michaels Energy) interviews Doug Houseman (Principal Consultant at Burns & McDonnell) about energy storage. Doug is a leader and visionary in grid and utility modernization. You'll quickly get a sense of his wealth of knowledge as we take you through our interview-style conversation.

Mar 24

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The Simple Recipe to Fail-Safe, Healthy, and Efficient Building Programs

By Jeff Ihnen Energy Rant No Comments

Based on my victims' feedback, I am an above-average cook, but my internal modesty says, barely. To achieve such mediocrity, all you must do is follow the instructions and pay little attention. The next step to greatness, I’ve heard, is to weigh rather than measure things (cups, teaspoons, etc.). No. Thanks. Beyond that probably requires the Malcolm-Gladwell 10,000 hours to achieve excellence as a professional. Designing and constructing buildings is a lot like cooking, and I think most “efficient” buildings are in my categorical class of cooks: mediocre-plus. Unlike great amateur cooks, designers and builders need to be paid for…

Mar 17

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The Four Horsemen of the Rebound

By Jeff Ihnen Energy Rant No Comments

“Hey Honey – our energy costs are down, so let’s have another kid.” This is the absurd logic behind studies linked to a Utility Dive post last week. The subject is the retread canard of the rebound effect, specifically the hoax that if you use less energy, you use more energy. They even go so far as to claim that consumers drive their cars more when gas prices drop. Why were gas prices in the tank (pun alert) with oil prices bottoming out at minus $37 per barrel in April of 2020? Prices were low-to-negative because people weren’t driving, and…

Jan 13

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Lithium is Not Nirvana

By Jeff Ihnen Energy Rant No Comments

I am typically afforded the freedom to chase rabbits as I write these posts, but last week my mission was to reflect on 2020 and forecast 2021. In the process of starting that, I chased a rabbit that is the subject of this post. It is as easy to shoot down ideas as it is to be negative because humans have a negativity bias, which means negative events have a greater impact on brains than positive ones. For example, I recently read that the joy of finding $20 in a coat pocket, say from a year ago, is overwhelmed by…

Jan 06

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Soothsayer Says: Eight Predictions for the Energy Industry

By Jeff Ihnen Energy Rant No Comments

If it’s worth doing, it’s worth doing now. That quasi-cliché is why I have never had a New Year’s resolution, and I’m not going to start in 2021, but I can review the past and forecast (guess) the future. Soothsaying is part of my job, and I’m at least as accurate as next week’s weather forecast. At the start of 2020, we had just reorganized, defined who we are, what we do, and why we do it. Sounds simple, right? What is your personal purpose? What do you value? What makes you tick? Keeping it concise is very hard. Our…

Dec 22

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Baker’s Dozen Energy and Carbon Saving Tricks

By Jeff Ihnen Energy Rant No Comments

Do squeaky wheels get the grease? No. They get replaced (Peter’s principle). Adulators get dessert. That is the case this week as I had considerable positive feedback from last week’s post: 12 schemes for waste and carbon-reduction. I will move one step upstream of that pie chart that showed shares of carbon emissions by household. That was a page by globalstewards.org, featuring 20 ways to reduce your carbon footprint. Here are some of Global Steward’s recommendations. 1. Walk when your destination is within a two-mile radius. This is great, except it comes with a big non-energy penalty: time. This is…

Dec 16

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12 Schemes to Reduce Carbon Emissions

By Jeff Ihnen Energy Rant No Comments

Back in the day, when I was interviewing college kids for full-time employment with us, I would ask them to tell me about things they have done in their personal experiences to save energy. The purpose was twofold, 1) do you dig efficiency, or are you just looking for employment – any employment, and 2) creativity. I thought I had everything covered, but some real zingers gave me a chuckle. It’s too bad I cannot recall them at this time. Nevertheless, I came across an old paper that appears to have been published for an ACEEE Summer Study in 1994,…

Dec 09

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Fly Balls, Fast Drives, And Fault Detection Diagnostics

By Jeff Ihnen Energy Rant No Comments

For those of you who are not doctors or veterinarians for our beloved pets, have you ever been in an exam room when the technician brings in X-RAY results and posts them on the backlit thing and leaves you alone with them before the doctor arrives? I was in this situation a year or two ago. Looking at the image was like reading brail with my eyes – but that doesn’t stop me from trying. Oooh, what is that? Is this a problem? Is that out of whack? The doctor blew over what I was looking at because I was…

Combined Heat and Power – a Serious Decarb Weapon

Net Zero: An Unserious Weapon Against Decarbonization

Energy Storage with Doug Houseman

The Simple Recipe to Fail-Safe, Healthy, and Efficient Building Programs

The Four Horsemen of the Rebound

Lithium is Not Nirvana

Soothsayer Says: Eight Predictions for the Energy Industry

Baker’s Dozen Energy and Carbon Saving Tricks

12 Schemes to Reduce Carbon Emissions

Fly Balls, Fast Drives, And Fault Detection Diagnostics

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