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Aug 28
Love43

Modern Electric Rates from the Slide Rule Era

By Energy Rant No Comments
Last week, we looked at Total Resource Cost (TRC) tests that were developed decades ago to put a high value on avoided source energy costs. That was right for the time, but not today. I demonstrated that energy costs, mostly dominated by natural gas, are near historic lows, while zero-energy-cost renewables supply more electricity than coal-fired generation. Of course, renewable sources have zero source-energy consumption. Yet, utility commissioners are laser-focused on keeping electricity prices in check and maintaining the reliability of the electric grid. Electric Rate Basics Like the TRC, most utility rates (tariffs) are stuck in the 1970s. I…
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Jan 21
Love0

Pay 4-Performance Sequel

By Energy Rant 3 Comments
For some strange reason, I’ve learned a lot about pay for performance in recent weeks. To spare tongues everywhere, let’s call it P4P. P4P efficiency programs are on the move once again. It is interesting to note that the last time P4P was the rage was during the deregulation gambit, almost 20 years ago. Like denim preferences, what goes around comes around with efficiency fads. The Original One of the most popular programs during the prior faddy P4P era was called a “Standard Offer” program. What marketing genius(es) coined that brand? I like metaphors, but I can’t think of any…
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Sep 18
Love0

I’ll Take Smart Grid for $200, Alex – What is AMI?

By Energy Rant 2 Comments
Last week, in a moment of weakness, I was on my Pinterest board (is that what it’s called?), when I came upon this excellent tip sheet from a marketing blog. I noted that the “emotional” alternatives to the “intellectual,” bloated phrases were simpler with fewer syllables and easier to read. On the same day, I was studying the benefits and costs of “advanced metering infrastructure,” aka, “smart grid.” Do you see a problem with our industry here? Name something with grotesquely puffy language, and then tag it with an incomprehensible acronym, rather than using a simpler term like, oh, smart…
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Feb 20
Love0

Energy and Demand Resource Soup

By Energy Rant 2 Comments
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 Role to Grid Managers My findings from the conference jive with a recent article I read in Public Utilities Fortnightly (PUF). The subject of that article was the Power of Innovation, a utility executive’s roundtable that included representatives from Edison International, Exelon, Duke Energy, Oncor, Southern…
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Mar 21
Love0
monitoring

Customer Success and Satisfaction – Monitoring Required

By Energy Rant No Comments
The source of this post is a report by Northeast Energy Efficiency Partnerships (NEEP), Next Generation Energy Efficiency. The direction of things going forward, as described in the report, is boiled down to a few key themes noted in the introduction: Deep comprehensive cost-effective savings for all fuels Controls and other intelligent efficiency technologies Advanced building designs with superb installation, operation, maintenance and control Integration of energy efficiency, demand response, and distributed energy Engagement of the private sector to deliver high efficiency products and solutions No widgets. A Bulbous Barrier First, I want to discuss a substantial, bordering on major,…
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Dec 14
Love0

Big Deal Big Data – Usain Bolt v Engineer

By Energy Rant No Comments
A year ago, I opened one Rant with Smart meter. Smart meter. Smart meter. Smart meter. Smart grid. Smart grid. Smart grid. Smart grid. I hereby open this post with Big Data. Big Data. Big Data. Big Data. Big hype. Big whoop. The Association for Energy Services Professionals held an online conference last week, and the theme was…. Big Data. Like smart grid and smart meters, big data presents an enormous opportunity for energy efficiency, the evolving energy infrastructure, and utilities in general. Like smart grid and smart meters, the Pacific Ocean lies between where we are and the new…
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Nov 30
Love0

Smart Grid Segmentation – Taking on the Dumb Meter Activists

By Energy Rant No Comments
I have written several times about smart grid hype; in particular about a year ago in Deaf and Mute Smart Meter. In that post, I described how utilities could truly treat demand response as a resource by using smart meter data, predictive consumption, and giving customers the power of their smart phone or tablet to participate in the infamous “utility of the future”. Customers want engagement, and they want control. Touché. A recent edition of Public Utilities Fortnightly (subscription) explained that indeed the smart grid is in a coma (my term). The title of the article is Smart Grid Isn’t Dead, but upon reading…
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Jan 05
Love0

The Deaf and Mute Smart Meter

By Energy Efficiency, Energy Rant 5 Comments
Smart meter.  Smart meter.  Smart meter. Smart meter. Smart grid.  Smart grid.  Smart grid.  Smart grid. So what?  What are customers, utilities, rate payers, and tax payers getting for their money? At an AESP conference several years ago, I sat in place of a colleague for a Pricing and Demand Response Committee meeting.  I’ve been in/on the committee ever since.  Within the last year, I took a survey from the committee, and I asked questions that went something like this: What does demand response in the US look like?  How much of it is interruptible rates?  How much is direct…
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Apr 14
Love0

Efficiency by Wi Fi – and Other Tricks

By Energy Efficiency, Energy Rant One Comment
The old cliché, “be careful what you wish for because you just might get it”, may be coming to energy efficiency portfolios everywhere.  It may be an unstoppable juggernaut that our industry will have little control over (pun alert).  Instead, it will drive implementers into ambulance chasing and drive evaluators whacky.  What is it?  Controls, especially Wi-Fi consumer control systems. Millenials, bear with me as I write like an old man, but I will avoid discussions of snow, hills, and walking to school (if you’re over 40 and from the Midwest, you know what I mean). 1970s: AM radio, broadcast…
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Oct 10
Love0

The Super Genius Grid

By Energy Efficiency, Energy Rant, Government, Renewable Energy, Sustainability, Utility Stuff 3 Comments
The barrier to having a decent energy policy is very similar to the barriers of solving illegal immigration.  Both the left and the right have their own vested interests in not fixing the problem.  I see the political spectrum as a circle, not a line from far left to far right.  It is a circle because when views get so extreme, they are supported by both the far left (e.g. Dennis Kucinich) and far right (e.g. Ron Paul).  Personally, I respect both of these guys and I have no doubt they are sincere in their beliefs and want the best…
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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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