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peak demand

Aug 21
Love42

The TRC Is Calling – Has Anyone Seen 1979?

By Energy Rant No Comments
Last week Michaels Energy delivered a webinar, Achieving Grid Resiliency with Thermal Energy Storage. There are about 70 gigawatts of refrigeration load in the United States frozen storage and chilled-water HVAC systems alone. That 70 GW does not include distributors like Sysco or U.S. Foods, grocery distribution centers like Walmart or Kroger, food manufacturers like Tyson or Nestle, grocery stores, convenience stores, or restaurants. Add it all up, and well over 10% of the total peak load in the U.S. is sitting there in bags, boxes, and buckets of food, waiting to be used as a flexible load-shifting and management…
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Sep 23
Love1
Utility Rate Database

Lithium-Ion Batteries for Commercial Buildings – Pass the Schnapps

By Energy Rant 2 Comments
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 would have guessed. Interestingly, I’ve read a lot about systems approaches to fighting the COVID – that is, our bodies’ systems to take on and ward off attacks by viruses effectively. I thought, wow, this is where we (Michaels) differentiate ourselves by thinking holistically, beyond the widget. Like many other technologies, such as combined heat and power,…
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Jun 14
Love0
PJM

Four Shades of Electrical Demand – A Riveting Cliffhanger

By Energy Rant One Comment
Last week I related electrical demand in kW with electrical energy in kWh. Energy is the area (power times time) under the kW curve. Without cheating, I’ll do an example. Elementary Calculus In energy-nerd world, a curve is a line of any form, including a straight line. Consider the simple ax + b curve on the right, where a is the slope and b is the y-intercept.  The equation is y = 2x +4. C’mon you had this in elementary school. Challenge yourself!If I want the energy consumed from hour two to hour ten, I simply take the integral of…
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Jun 15
Love0

Relative Humidity, by Socks and Jeans

By Energy Efficiency, Energy Rant, Sustainability No Comments
It is mid-June, and strangely here in the northern Midwest we have experienced virtually no warm, humid weather yet this year.  The weather can flip like a switch from a pattern of rain and clouds of the past several weeks to one that is hot and humid with little precipitation.  Now is a good time to talk about relative humidity and moisture. Relative humidity is something everyone knows about but hardly anyone understands.  How many times have you heard “It was 100 degrees with 99 percent humidity?”  I guarantee these conditions are 100% impossible, at least in the ambient outdoors,…
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We talk a lot about energy – from the serious to the satirical.

All things energy. That’s our jam.

We talk a lot about energy – from the serious to the satirical.

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