Demand Response

Demand Response is when energy users are reimbursed or paid to reduce their consumption. I believe this is a great system to use for any type of energy consumer from small households to large corporations. This could be a turning point and another added bonus to decreasing our environmental impact. Enernoc is a great provider of demand response that is taking advantage and publicizing this new idea. Companies that Enernoc help commercial, industrial, and institutional businesses to find ways to reduce their impact and receive benefits without affecting operations, comfort or quality of the business. Enernoc’s website states, “Demand response allows energy users of all kinds to act as “virtual power plants,” adding stability to the grid by voluntarily lowering their demand for electricity.” This is a great program that reduces humanity’s ecological footprint, which can help our environment and businesses now, as well as in the future.

 

Courtesy of Google Images

So how is demand response measured? Mainly turning off lighting, air conditioning, certain pumps, other non-essential equipment, and switching to back up generation dignify the conservation process. Each demand response reduction program is customized to the specific business for easier capability within the program. As less demand on power grids are created demand response companies such as Enernoc, Comverg, and Con Edison pay for the energy that is not used.  I have constructed a table of information I found from www.epa.gov “Coordination of Energy Efficiency and Demand Response,” which shows various types of demand response programs and price options.

 

Price Options Incentive or Event-Based Options
TOU rates: Rates with fixed price blocksthat differ by time of day.

 

Direct load control: Customers receiveincentive payments for allowing the utility a

degree of control over certain equipment.

 

RTP: Rates that vary continually (typicallyhourly) in response to wholesale market

prices.

 

Emergency demand response programs:Customers receive incentive payments for

load reductions when needed to ensure

reliability.

 

CPP: Rates that include a pre-specified,extra-high rate that is triggered by the

utility and is in effect for a limited number

of hours.

Demand bidding/buyback programs:Customers offer bids to curtail load when

wholesale market prices are high.

 

Capacity market programs: Customersreceive incentive payments for providing

load reductions as substitutes for system

capacity.

 

Interruptible/curtailable: Customersreceive a discounted rate for agreeing to

reduce load on request.b

 

Ancillary services market programs:Customers receive payments from a grid

operator for committing to curtail load when

needed to support operation of the electric

grid (i.e., ancillary services).c

 

 

CPP = critical peak pricing; RTP = real-time pricing; TOU = time of use.

 

As demand response programs are fairly new they are not yet extremely popular in every area of the world. The leading market is America with European and Eastern Asian programs developing quickly. As this industry develops I believe it will only be a matter of time before almost every country is starting these programs. Naviganttrees.com states “This market is projected to experience a robust compound annual growth (CAGR) rate of 37% to become a multi-billion market by 2016.” Demand response is a great way that everyone can benefit. While companies are being paid to be sustainable the environment and our energy sources can be saved as well.

 

http://www.pge.com/mybusiness/energysavingsrebates/demandresponse/

http://www.pge.com/mybusiness/energysavingsrebates/analyzer/integrated/

http://www.epa.gov/cleanenergy/documents/suca/ee_and_dr.pdf

http://www.navigantresearch.com/research/demand-response

http://www.enernoc.com/our-resources/term-pages/704-what-is-demand-response

Boston Museum of Science Trip

While learning about many types of science and environmental situations in contemporary science the museum of science in Boston was a perfect trip for the class to take to learn a more about this interesting and evolving topic. One exhibit within the museum displayed various types of power used in Boston and in the United States. There were sections such as fossil fuels, hydropower, nuclear, solar, and wind power. This was an interactive exhibit where the public can place numerous Boston power blocks on the type of energy that is wished to use. On the top of the power panel there are two meters one shows the energy supplied from the type of power used and the environmental impact of the power used. This was a great way that people can see how much each different type of power affects the earth. Along with how much energy is actually created from these types of sources.

Another portion of the exhibit explained wind power in Massachusetts. The first example showed the decision to install wind turbines. This explained what questions are asked before the turbines are created such as how much power will be generated, efficiency, cost, and acceptance of the community just to name a few. Along with that was a list of various organizations that wished to install wind turbines in Massachusetts. These included museum of science, Logan International Airport, the town of Hull, and a couple high schools. These establishments all showed various types of stories about the process and the interesting facts if wind power was ideal for their situation. Moving forward in the exhibit was a time line of the power of wind. This explained how the first windmills were created around 500 A.D. Then there was the first windmill created to generate electricity, which was in 1888 by Charles Brush in Cleveland, Ohio. Last was a modern picture of an aerodynamic modern wind turbine. Which shows what they are composed of such as vertical or horizontal blades made from lightweight materials.

I think going to the Boston Museum of Science was a great way that the class can see the hands on approach to clean energy usage, and the difference between using renewable resources and fossil fuels. This will enhance our experiments for class because we have seen from the museum various types of visual experiments and models that portray different types of sustainability and ways to use natural resources for energy. These examples can give us new ideas, enhance our brainstorming, and give the groups in class further insight into what experiments we will be doing for our final to share and teach the class.