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demand response

The Smart Grid's Problem May Be Storage's Opportunity

November 28, 2011 by James Greenberger
with 509 views
4

Energy storage advocates have a different story to tell and by many measures a more compelling one. With energy storage, a utility or electricity service provider manages the challenge (and, yes, the cost) of drawing electricity from the grid in the most efficient way possible. The electricity is then stored locally, by means of a distributed energy storage system, which the consumer draws from when and as the consumer wants. Peak electricity usage on the grid is reduced and greater energy efficiency is achieved through the utility’s management of the storage resource without involving the consumer. [read more]

Debunking Common Energy Efficiency Myths

November 25, 2011 by Sarah Hayes
with 662 views
3

Energy efficiency can be difficult to conceptualize. There’s not a representative device like a solar panel or wind turbine. Rather, it’s a collection of technologies, strategies, and policies involving our houses, businesses, transportation, and behavior that improve the way we live. There are often misunderstandings or “myths” about... [read more]

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The Trouble With Air-Conditioners

September 28, 2011 by Scott Edward Anderson
with 707 views
3

Demand response is a topic that can easily bring a sleepy man to dreamland.So it was with some trepidation that I attended the New York Academy of Sciences' "Market Makers: Developing and Deploying Energy Efficiency Technology in NYC" event, part of Climate Week.I was glad I did. Perhaps it's his "down under" accent or comedian's... [read more]

Virtual Generation and Demand Response: How Constellation Finds Energy Where There Wasn’t Any…

September 19, 2011 by Jim Pierobon
with 343 views
1

As operators for regional power grids such as PJM Interconnection begin to roll out more robust demand-response programs, the private sector is responding with software products that can save energy for large commercial and industrial consumers and help utilities avoid brownouts and perhaps even blackouts. One of the emerging leaders in... [read more]

Demand Response: What It Is & What It Means For You

August 24, 2011 by Peter Troast
with 509 views
1

Utilities across the country are increasingly developing “demand response” programs in order to gain flexibility in reducing peak load stress on the grid. Maybe you’ve heard of these programs, and maybe you haven’t, but it’s important to gain an accurate understanding of what they are, and their possible effects, to become informed... [read more]

Worried About Too Much Demand Elasticity In Electric Power Markets

August 8, 2011 by Michael Giberson
with 409 views
1

Will electric power consumers facing smart-grid enabled real time prices have the potential to accidentally destabilize the power grid and cause a blackout?  A paper presented at a recent IEEE conference says it is a possibility. The surprising culprit? Too much price elasticity in the market demand function. It is a surprising... [read more]

A Heat Wave Without Blackouts

July 26, 2011 by Lynne Kiesling
with 292 views
1

Last week’s heat wave in the US was record-setting. Historically, the combination of a persistent heat wave with static, regulated retail markets and fixed prices has resulted in brownouts or blackouts in peak hours (and, at least from my personal experience with ComEd, exploding transformers in substations). However, as reported by... [read more]

EnerNOC: The Demand Response Advantage Is Customer Savings

July 19, 2011 by Benjamin Lack
with 343 views
0

Gregg Dixon, Sr. VP of Sales and Marketing for EnerNOC, discusses how his company is helping smooth the load on the grid through innovative demand response strategies.  Ben Lack: I’m with Greg Dixon, the Senior Vice President of Marketing and Sales with EnerNOC. Thanks so much for being with us today. Greg Dixon: It’s our pleasure,... [read more]

How Consumer Experience Managers Can Help Utilities

July 17, 2011 by Christine Hertzog
with 225 views
0

The newest trend in utility/customer relationships is the growing number of Consumer Experience Manager (CEM) positions that are appearing in utilities. What is a consumer experience? Quite simply, the interactions that a consumer can have with a utility through any number of channels. The traditional utility channels for consumer... [read more]

The Value of a Negawatt

June 22, 2011 by Christopher Williams
with 616 views
0

A few weeks ago a member of the Green Light Distrikt community, Sarah Jayanthi from Solar One, kindly invited me to a panel discuss on “The Value of a Negawatt.” Negawatt power “is a theoretical unit of power representing an amount of energy (measured in watts) saved. The energy saved is a direct result of energy... [read more]

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Moving Demand Response Forward

April 28, 2011 by Sachin Gupta
with 703 views
3

Topics like "Smart Grid" and "smart meters" have practically become cocktail party conversation, but "demand response" can evoke spirited debate as well.“Demand response” is a topic that piques my interest. As a national business development manager for Siemens Energy, I work closely with utilities all over the United States facilitating... [read more]

A Communications Infrastructure Fit for the Smart Grid

April 28, 2011 by Christine Hertzog
with 69 views
0

Telecommunications networks are similar to electricity networks – no one gives a thought to them until they aren’t working as expected.  The network infrastructure to support the data communications requirements of the Smart Grid must be upgraded and expanded to handle additional traffic, and in particular traffic for new market... [read more]

SMARTGRID WEBINAR 1PM - LAST CHANCE TO REGISTER

April 2, 2011 by Amelia Timbers
with 463 views
0

Most traditional systems for distributing electricity are severely limited by a mismatch between available power and fluctuating consumer demand for power. Often, this results in wasted energy during light load times, and insufficient power during peak times—in the worst cases, leading to brownouts and blackouts. [read more]

The Promise and Challenge of Distributed Energy Storage

February 18, 2011 by James Greenberger
with 198 views
0

What distinguishes DES from other storage technologies, and what makes DES so potentially important to the smart grid, is its ability to provide a virtual form of demand side management. DES provides virtual DMS by effectively replacing the electricity consumer with a battery. A grid operator wheels power to the DES battery when it is convenient for the grid operator to do so. This will generally be during off-peak hours when the wind is blowing or the sun is shining. The traditional electricity consumer no longer has a relationship with the grid, other than as a source of back-up power. The consumer’s relationship is with the DES battery, which provides the consumer with power when the consumer wants it from a source that is at its farthest right next door. [read more]

Time for Ontario to widen peak/off-leak rate gap in TOU pricing

February 16, 2011 by Tyler Hamilton
with 486 views
0

Results from a pilot project in Oklahoma show that having a wider TOU price gap will encourage more peak-period conservation and shifting of electricity use, a finding that contrasts with the experience in Ontario, where the price gap and the market signal it sends is very weak. In the Oklahoma trial, pricing ranged from 4.2 cents (... [read more]