Month: December 2013

 

I desired to find a different definition from my classmates for demand response, but I could not find a more precise definition than the one stated in Wikipedia. It is published from the FERC, which stands for Federal Energy Regulatory Commission. According to Wikipedia and the FERC, demand response is defined as changes in electric usage by end-use customers from their normal consumption patterns in response to changes in the price of electricity over time, or to incentive payments designed to induce lower electricity use at times of high wholesale market prices or when system reliability is jeopardized. To summarize the definition and make it easier for you to understand: demand response is the end-use costumers reducing their use of electricity in response to the power grid needs, economic signal from a competitive wholesale market or special retail rates. You might have some problems grasping some of the convoluted terms used in both definitions, but I hope the blog will try to simplify and clarify them.

 

In our daily life, when you turn on a gadget you expect an immediate response:  You do not wait for a light bulb to come on after you have flipped the switch. It is instant. Have you asked yourself: how does electricity deliver?

That is the power grid. According to an article named “How demand response works” published by Maria Trimarchi, electricity is generated at a power plant and transmitted to local substations where transformers turn it into a usable voltage. Then it is distributed into our homes and businesses through a web of high voltage transmission lines, which is the grid.

The demand for electricity might be tremendous not only in the afternoon and early evening but also in the hot summer days (air conditioners run all-day long). When everyone utilizes his or her electrical devices at the same time it is called peak usage time. The power grid generates only the electricity we request. So, we can say it is our responsibility to start the habitat of energy conservation. According to rmi.org, the Energy Information Administration predicts the demand will increase at 40 percent by 2030. In this case; we need to find a solution to decrease the demand load. Thanks to the demand response we can reduce the issue stated earlier. Demand response programs reward residential, commercial, and industrial consumers with incentives for reducing or shifting their energy use on days when demand for energy is highest (such as peak hours), helping to reduce stress on the system and ensure adequate supplies of power.

The purpose of these programs is to take a more fiscally and environmentally responsible approach by avoiding the necessity to construct and maintain additional power plants that would be suitable only for few hours during the year. It replaces peaking power plants efficiently with a more efficient, “virtual” power plant. It also keeps supply and demand in balance. The demand response clearly contributes in a more clean and renewable energy. According to energysmart.enernoc.com, demand response is a great pinch-hitter: it can adjust demand strategically so that each megawatt of renewable energy does not have to be matched with another megawatt of carbon-emitting, fossil-fuel-fired generation.

To conclude, I hope the blog was helpful and covered all the information.

 

 

 

 

Before even defining and explaining the keystone XL pipeline, I remarked that when I first typed in Google the name of the project the name of “TransCanada” popped out in almost every website. AS far as I’m concerned, I believe that there is a connection between the two terms mentioned earlier. So, what is the TransCanada? What is the relationship between Keystone XL Pipeline and the company? Does the project have any pros/cons?

The Canadian company “TransCanada” is mostly a pipeline company. It has been a leader in the safe and reliable operation of North American energy infrastructure, including a growing array of natural gas and oil pipelines, along with natural gas storage facilities. According to the official blog (blog.transcanada.com) of the company, TransCanada transports 20 percent of the natural gas consumed in North America. I desired to provide you with some information about the company since it has a lot to do with sustainability, energy, and technology.

The Keystone XL Pipeline Project is a proposed 1,179-mile (1,897 km), 36-inch-diameter crude oil pipeline (keystone-xl.com). The Canadian company TransCanada hopes to begin constructing the northern section of an oil pipeline that would trek close to 2,000 miles from Alberta, Canada to the Gulf coast of Texas. The map below clearly illustrates the path of the project.

The project consists of four phases; two are in operation, one (from Oklahoma to the Texas Gulf coast) is under construction and the last phase is waiting for an approval from the American government. I believe the government is analyzing closely the rest of the project and desiring to know its pros and cons before lunching it. So, The whole project is like every proposal related to energy and sustainability. It has its pros and cons. I believe that the best way to illustrate the negative and positive sides of the program is to combine them in a chart.

Pros

Cons

–        Pipelines are safe and environmentally favorable:  TransCanada has one of the best safety records in the industry. The pipelines are safe and reliable. –        Creating jobs during pipeline construction and encourage skilled Americans to work: It will include positions for equipment operators, welders, mechanics, truck drivers, and laborers. –        Pipeline construction will create demand for local goods and services and strengthen the economy: Such as cleaning, gravel supply, construction equipment supply and maintenance, lodging and accommodation. –        Annual tax revenue and investment in local communities –        Reduce the U.S dependence on oil from Venezuela and the Middle East by 40 percent. –        Canada is one of the most secure sources of oil supply in the world and has long been a secure source of supply for the United States.

–        Dirty tar sands oil: It causes pollution during its production. Levels of carbon dioxide emissions are three to four times higher than conventional oil. –        Water waste and pollution: During the tar sands oil extraction process, tremendous amounts of heat, water and chemicals are needed to separate different substances. It takes 3 barrels of water to extract 1 barrel of oil. –        Forest destruction: The tar sands oil are located underneath the world’s largest intact ecosystem, the Boreal forests of Alberta. The forests are important to reduce the levels of carbon. –        Indigenous populations: Cultural traditions are coming under attack because of tar sands operations. People have been forced off of their land. –        Refining tar sands oil: Refining tar sands oil is dirtier than refining conventional oil. It will emit high amounts of toxic sulfur dioxide and nitrous oxide. The emissions contribute to respiratory diseases like asthma.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

http://www.foe.org/projects/climate-and-energy/tar-sands/keystone-xl-pipeline

http://keystone-xl.com/about/the-project/

http://blog.transcanada.com/about-us/

http://keystone-xl.com/about/jobs-and-economic-benefits/