The savings in a smarter electric grid

Washington State has been trying a so-called "smart grid," where people have their major appliances wired to the grid to reduce electric use during peak demand times, lowering electric costs.

For example, when high demand drove prices up (as utilities have to turn on "peaking plants" to generate extra electricity), special electronics turned off the heat element in the dryer or the water heater, helping to level demand.

This system is a combination of price monitoring and time-of-use pricing, and it lowered household electricity demand at peak times by 15%. During extended periods of heavy demand, the system lowered usage by as much as 50%.

In general, the system only intervened about 1% of the time, but cut 15% off the owners' electric bill. Not bad for a one-time $1000 investment.

How to make screwing your kids into social justice

A lesson from the Cato Institute, in their argument against oil conservation (and gas taxes):

[Does] intergenerational equity demand conservation? We think not. The strongest normative argument against conservation is that it transfers resources from the relatively poor to the relatively rich. That’s because today’s generation is almost certainly much poorer than future generations will be. For instance, if per capita income grows at 2 percent a year, people 100 years from now will be approximately 7 times wealthier than we are today. Those concerned about intergenerational equity should worry more about standards of living today than about standards of living tomorrow.

You hear that? There's no need to conserve, because everyone will get richer. On the other hand:

1. You forgot inflation, which also runs around 2% a year. So future generations might be 1 times wealthier than us.
2. Will my children feel richer when they pay $5/gallon at the pump for unconventionally-derived gas? You suggest that the market will take care of supply as the price rises (by tapping unconventional sources like oil shale that are not economical today). Great, but more of my child's disposable income will go for transportation/food/etc as it becomes more expensive.

I think I'll conserve.

Respecting the climate means living locally

Residents of Las Vegas - one of the fastest growing cities in America - are learning that living in the desert means living a bit differently from their prior ways. In particular, a severe water shortage - the worst drought in recorded history - has created a new interest in xeriscaping - landscaping that minimizes water use. In Vegas, that means less grass and more cactus.

The New York Times has a nice 5-minute video on xeriscaping and water conservation in Las Vegas.

The Southern Nevada Water Authority is also finding ways to raise awareness of the water issues, with some clever public service advertisements:

Are energy monitors the key to conservation?

From sph, a story on a proposal in the United Kingdom to distribute energy monitors to most households. These monitors would display current energy use, apparently broken down by individual appliance (though the story doesn't explain the mechanics of that). Monitors are not the same as smart meters, which I discussed previously.


Energy consumption is very nebulous thing to most people and getting hard data like this is essential to helping people understand what activities use the most energy. It's the first step in helping people connect that 3 TVs and 2 computers running all night actually uses a lot of electricity.

However, the one way to improve the meter would be to have it display price information. I'd love to see the meter say, "Your energy use is costing $XX per hour." Of course, since a typical American residential electric rate is around 11 cents/kWh, and Americans use an average of 1.2 kW per hour, it might not phase folks much to see that they're spending 13.2 cents an hour on electricity.

While the impact might be small, another hope for increasing consumer knowledge of electricity use is to create demand shifting. Electric use in most places peaks in late afternoon in summer, when air conditioners are cranked up as people arrive home from work. One of the big keys to reducing emissions from power generation is time-shifting demand so that power consumption is more level. A large proportion of electric generation (as much as 25%) is invested in so-called "peaking plants" that are only turned on a couple times a year during peak demand. If power consumption was more level, these plants would a) not be used and b) may not be built at all.

It's a lot to ask from an energy monitor, but it's a good first step.